Extinction
by Chris7221
Summary: Project Extinction was supposed to be the end of the Wraith, once and for all. All they had to do was fly back, activate it, and watch the fireworks. At least, that was the theory. In a strange new galaxy, with a terrifying threat looming over the horizon, finding a way back home may not be so easy.
1. Chapter 1

Project Extinction was supposed to be the end of the Wraith, once and for all. All the Atlantis Expedition had to do was fly back, activate it, and watch the fireworks. At least, that was the theory. Unfortunately for them, the wormhole drive malfunctions on the way to Pegasus. In a strange new galaxy, with a terrifying threat looming over the horizon, finding a way back home may not be so easy...

Set post-EATG, ignoring the books. I did fudge some of the positions slightly.

* * *

 **Extinction**

 **1: Risk**

One of the perks of Homeworld Command was getting a spacious, basically private conference room. The table was solid, the chairs were comfortable, and it came with a projector system that worked great for movies. On one side of the table was a set of very familiar faces: SG-1. Well, technically only Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell, Daniel, Vala, and Teal'c were part of SG-1. Colonel Carter had her own command now. On the other side of the table was the motley Atlantis crew: Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex.

"Okay, you're all here," General O'Neill remarked. He motioned with his hands. "Your big plan. Sell me on it."

John motioned to the man next to him. "Rodney."

"Oh, why do I have to present?" the scientist objected.

"Because you're the one who discovered the damn thing," John hissed.

"Well, actually..." Daniel began. He cut himself off. "No, you know what, you go right ahead."

"Fine." He stood up, pulled out a remote and clicked a button on it. An undecipherable diagram appeared on the projection screen in front of them. "Project Extinction. The Ancients' last, best hope against the Wraith."

That got the General's attention. "I'm listening."

"Okay, this is the Ancients' top-secret, classified stuff. We only found this in the Atlantis database just now, and it was practically buried. It's almost a miracle we found it at all."

"But what _is_ it?" General O'Neill asked.

"I'm getting to that!"

"Rodney," John warned.

"Okay, fine. Let's skip over all the interesting, important background information," Rodney huffed. "Project Extinction is a weapon that interferes with the operation of Wraith hyperdrives. As you know- or maybe not- one of the biggest weaknesses the Wraith have is the organic nature of their ships. Hyperspace radiation is harmful to them and the Extinction weapon channels that radiation and essentially rips apart Wraith ships as they travel through hyperspace."

"Hold on, didn't the Ancients have a weapon like this?" Colonel Mitchell asked. "And didn't it make Stargates blow up?"

Daniel answered, "Actually, the development of the Extinction weapon predates the Attero Device and it was a completely different group. There was some mention of the very same effect, but they were able to work around the problem."

O'Neill inquired, "I take it this thing is in Pegasus and not on Atlantis?"

Rodney answered, "Well, we need Atlantis, but yes, the rest of it is in Pegasus. So we load up the _Odyssey_ and the _Daedalus_ , have them close in tight with the city. Then we use the wormhole drive to make the trip back to Pegasus."

"That leaves the nearly complete _Hammond_ and the Antarctic weapons platform- using the control chair retrieved from Taonas- to defend Earth should the need arise," John added helpfully.

"Why?" the General questioned. "Why do you need so much firepower, and why the wormhole drive?"

"Well, the firepower we need because of the Wraith between us and the Extinction device. The wormhole drive, it'll speed up the mission, sir," John answered. "It cuts down the timeframe to something the guys upstairs can live with, and it'll give us an element of surprise over the Wraith."

"I don't know, that seems a little risky," the General mentioned. "Or maybe really risky."

"Yes, strictly speaking, the wormhole drive is a riskier technology," Rodney admitted. He raised a finger. "But, when you consider the chance of a catastrophic hyperdrive failure over the several days it takes to make the trip from here to Pegasus, it's actually significantly safer."

"Carter?"

" _Statistically speaking_ , the wormhole drive is less likely to malfunction on the way to Pegasus," she replied before adding, "Of course, there could be failure modes we haven't considered-"

"Which is itself unlikely," Rodney objected smugly.

"Okay. So where does SG-1 come into this?"

"Actually, sir, it was our idea to come along," Mitchell answered. "We haven't been getting a lot done here in the Milky Way, and they could use some backup."

He nodded before turning to the leader of AR-1. "And your plan is..."

John answered, "Well, sir, we find the Extinction device, activate it, and... well, basically that's the plan."

"And then no more Wraith?"

"Yeah."

"Is that just me or do the Ancients love leaving problem-solving boxes in difficult-to-find locations?" the General asked sarcastically.

Daniel and Rodney shared a look.

He leaned forward and glanced around the table. "So, what if it doesn't work? For all we know, they might never have even built this thing."

"Well, it's a short mission to Pegasus, not an expedition, otherwise we'd be taking this upstairs," Daniel answered. "Unfortunately, there's a good possibility the journey will deplete the ZPMs or even damage Atlantis to the point of not being able to return quickly to the Milky Way."

O'Neill smirked. "Alright, you have a go."

* * *

Colonel Samantha Carter couldn't help but admire the view from her commander's chair on the bridge of the USS _Odyssey_. They had left Earth orbit and were taking position past the moon. The graceful spires of Atlantis dominated their view, silhouetted against a barely visible Mars and the infinite backdrop of a field of stars. The _Odyssey_ was a good ship, with a storied if not always positive history, and she was honored to command the vessel.

"Ma'am, we are in position," Major Kevin Marks reported from his station in front of her.

She nodded. "Signal Atlantis, tell them we're ready."

"This will work, right?" Colonel Cameron Mitchell, leader of SG-1, asked from behind her.

"It'll work," she said confidently.

"Atlantis reports they are powering up the wormhole drive," a Lieutenant announced from her station near the rear of the bridge.

"All hands, stand by for wormhole transition," Sam announced to the crew. She ordered Marks, "Don't wait for my order. As soon as the wormhole opens up, take us in."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ahead of them, space appeared to tear open as Atlantis activated its wormhole drive. A pitch-black circle ringed with swirling energies flashed into existence ahead of the city before it disappeared into the "hole". The two Earth warships followed, the view through the reinforced window changing from stars to something completely different in a fraction of a second.

"Wow."

Stars appeared to zip by them in the wormhole, with a green tinged glowing barrier between them and real space. Many years back, a science team had created a theoretical concept of what the inside of a Stargate wormhole would look like. The wormhole they were flying through looked much like that crude 3D render, but much more intricate.

"It's something, isn't it," Mitchell agreed. He changed topics. "So, commander of the _Odyssey_ , huh?"

"Why, jealous?" Sam prodded.

"No," he replied quickly.

"Technically, I'm only temporarily in command of the _Odyssey_ for this mission," she told him. "I'm supposed to take command of the _Hammond_ once-"

"Ma'am, the wormhole is destabilizing!" Major Marks shouted frantically. The wormhole around them was fading, the stars slowing and growing in intensity. A bright light began to appear ahead of them. "We will be ejected violently in a matter of seconds!"

"All hands, brace!" Colonel Carter ordered, gripping her chair tightly.

* * *

The control room of Atlantis was chaotic. Scientists and engineers darted about, frantically hammering away on their laptops still trying to process what had just happened. A few of them had been thrown around by the sudden transition, and medics were starting to rush in to treat them.

"What the hell happened?" Colonel John Sheppard shouted. He snapped his fingers at a familiar scientist. "Rodney, why did we drop out of hyperspace?"

"The wormhole collapsed!" he answered frantically.

"McKay, you said _very specifically_ that this wouldn't happen."

"The chance of this happening are incredibly minute."

Sheppard took a deep breath. "Where the hell are we?"

"The edge of the Milky Way..." Rodney trailed off, staring at his tablet.

"Okay. We can work with that, right?"

"Oh, no, no, no," the scientist muttered. He hammered on his tablet before pushing a Swedish engineer out of the way and taking over his control console. "This is not good."

"What is it?"

"We need to land," Rodney urged. "When the wormhole drive glitched, it drained a significant fraction of our power before the overrides kicked in. When that happened, it sent a feedback pulse through the whole system, blowing out power relays and burning out conduits throughout the city."

"So, it's not a good idea to wait here," Sheppard surmised.

"No, it's not. Those busted conduits are leaking energy and continuing to drain our ZPMs," he answered. "Oh, and, need I mention that the shield draws its power through the same damaged power conduits? That means we can't isolate the leaking conduits without losing the shield, and it means that the shield could fail at any minute if a critical conduit blows."

"So, how do we land without getting vaporized?"

"I'm working on that," he protested before changing his tune. "Wait, short jumps!"

"That quickly?" the Colonel asked skeptically. He followed the scientist to a console near the middle of the room. "What kind of idea is this?"

"When the Prometheus was first launched, it used a highly unstable naquadriah-based hyperdrive. It almost exploded on the first trip, but they were able to limp their way to a nearby planet with a stargate. Comparing the first-gen Prometheus hyperdrive to the Atlantis stardrive is like comparing a Model T to a Tesla Roadster, but the same principles still hold," he explained, typing commands into his tablet. "If we do a short, slower jump, it'll put a lot less stress on the hyperdrive system. We'll be able to check out the power conduits once we land and make repairs as necessary."

There was one other thing. "What about the gate?"

He shook his head. "We don't have an accurate enough position fix."

"Right. Get everything ready. I'll get Sam and Caldwell up to speed," John told the scientist. He fired up their video communication system and delivered a brief summary of their situation.

"Is there a reason we can't conduct repairs in space?" Colonel Caldwell asked over the video link.

From behind his console, Rodney called, "It could take months, and every minute we spend out here is a minute we're using the shield and draining our already drained ZPMs if it doesn't fail entirely."

"How long do we have before power becomes critical?" Carter asked.

"Hours. Days at best."

"Okay. We're still in the Milky Way, so we'll just pick a familiar planet and land," John suggested. He stepped up to one of the displays and examined it. "The green circle is-"

"Our approximate position, yes," Rodney finished.

"This could be a problem..." John said. He turned back to the video link. "Colonel Caldwell, do you have this map?"

"Yes, Colonel, and I'm seeing the same thing you are," Caldwell answered. "What about P4Y-YJ7? It's unexplored, but it was on the Abydos cartouche so it's probably habitable. And it's only a hundred lightyears away, so if it doesn't turn out we won't have lost too much time."

"Good eyes, Colonel." John circled another cluster with his finger. "These are in the Atlantis database. They were Ancient colonies on lush worlds."

"That database is millions of years out of date," Carter pointed out. "They might not even exist anymore."

"That's better than nothing," he reminded her.

"True."

"It's worth a shot," Caldwell agreed. "Colonel Carter, we'll scout out P4Y-YJ7. Can you take a look at that cluster?"

"Will do, Colonel. Carter out."

* * *

Equipped with a highly advanced intergalactic hyperdrive originally designed by the Asgard, the _Daedalus_ made the short trip to P4Y-YJ7 in a matter of minutes. A bright green hyperspace window crackled into existence above the planet and the angular gray ship emerged before it closed up again. Although it was an incredibly complex process that dealt with terrifying energy levels, it had become entirely routine for the crew.

"What are we looking at?" Colonel Caldwell asked as soon as they entered orbit of the planet.

"I'm picking up a single artificial satellite," Major Pat Meyers answered, examining the readouts on her console. "Some strange readings coming from it- it could be dark energy, sir."

He raised an eyebrow. "Dark energy?"

"It's hard to tell from our current position," she apologized. "The satellite does not appear to be armed. Figure a communications or surveillance satellite."

"Using dark energy?" Caldwell wasn't a physicist and only had a weak understanding of its implications. He knew it wasn't part of the usual Ancient-derived techbase, however, and that got his attention.

"It's possible, sir."

Caldwell nodded, filing away that detail. "What can you tell me about the planet itself?"

"I'm picking up several settlements on the surface," she answered. "Total population in the low thousands. They're technologically advanced and likely have some spaceflight capability. Similar energy signatures to the satellite."

"A colony?"

"That's likely, sir," she answered before adding, "I'm not picking up a stargate."

That means they must have arrived on ships and moved their gate- or someone did for them. Ever the military man, Caldwell asked, "Have they seen us?"

"I don't believe so, sir," the Major answered.

"Let's keep it that way. Take us behind the moon."

"Yes, sir." Major Meyers pushed the throttles forward with one hand and pushed the control yoke over with the other, bringing the _Daedalus_ onto a vector straight toward the moon. Between the massively powerful sublight engines and the highly sophisticated inertial compensators, obeying orbital mechanics was mostly optional.

 _Well, it's habitable_ , Caldwell concluded. "Open a channel to Atlantis. Let's give 'em the good news and the bad news."

* * *

"So, a sparsely populated world belonging to a technologically advanced human civilization?" John echoed from the other end of the subspace link.

"That's right, Colonel." Caldwell confirmed. "We're currently holding position behind the moon. That means they can't see us us, but it means we can't even try to intercept their communications."

"Sounds like a colony," he surmised. "How advanced are we talking?"

"While they're more advanced than we were before discovering the gate, they're pretty far behind where we are now. Spaceflight, but no apparent FTL," the starship commander answered. "With that being said, I agree that this is probably just a colony. We have no idea what else they might have."

"No, we don't," John agreed. The planet was habitable and had plenty of room. On the other hand, it was also home to part of an advanced civilization they knew nothing about. They could definitely land the city and effect repairs, and if they were careful possibly without the other civilization ever knowing they were there. But it was incredibly risky, and a hostile first contact was the last thing they needed right now. Hoping for some breathing room, he asked Rodney, "How's our power?"

"I've modified the power distribution program to draw power from the ZPMs in sequence- it'll buy us some time," he answered. "One ZPM almost depleted. The other ones are starting to drain again."

John cringed. "It's only been two hours."

"We're still trying to figure out which conduits are leaking, let alone isolate the broken ones," he answered.

"We still haven't heard from the _Odyssey_ , and we still haven't heard back from Earth," John said, mostly to himself. Their subspace transmitters were powerful, but they were on the wrong side of the galaxy. Reaching Earth was an iffy proposition, and even if Earth could pick up their transmissions there was no guarantee their less advanced transmitters would be able to reach back.

"No," Rodney answered needlessly.

"It'll have to do," John decided. "I'll fly the city, you make sure it doesn't explode. Colonel Caldwell, give us a nice place to drop out. We're on our way."

* * *

"You know, every time I get involved with Atlantis it seems something goes horribly wrong," Daniel Jackson remarked to his friend and former teammate from behind her command chair. "The first time, we got hijacked. There was the whole business with the Vanir, and now, well..."

"What about when were hunting down Merlin's weapon?" Colonel Carter reminded him. "That turned out better than expected."

He nodded. "Okay, I'll give you that one."

All business, Carter asked the officer at the helm, "How are we doing, Major?"

"I'm picking spurious readings from the third system," Major Marks said from his station. He looked closely and blinked. "Ma'am, you're going to want to see this."

Carter stepped out of her command chair and leaned down to take a look. When she looked at the readings on the display, her eyes widened. "Dark energy?"

"Yes, ma'am," the Major confirmed.

Sam was torn. The scientist in her desperately wanted to find out what was causing the errant readings. The commander in her knew they had a critically important mission they couldn't deviate from for any reason. But maybe... "Major, what does this system look like?"

"Five planets orbiting an F-class star," he reported. "It's possible one of them might be habitable, but we can't tell from hyperspace."

"This is worth checking out," the Colonel decided. "Drop us out at the edge of the system, we'll cloak and creep in on sublight."

"Yes, ma'am."

The _Odyssey_ dropped out of hyperspace and immediately cloaked. If anyone was looking, they would have seen a bright bluish-green flash, a brief speck of grey, and then empty space. Once cloaked, they fired their sublight engines, quickly accelerating to a quarter of the speed of light and closing the distance between the fourth and fifth planets in minutes.

"I'm picking up one ship near the fourth planet. They're decelerating... through the lightspeed barrier," Marks reported, surprised. "Ma'am, that's-"

"Realspace FTL," Carter finished. "Wow."

"That's impossible," Mitchell said.

"It's impossible with our current technology," she corrected, examining the readouts. Judging by their readings, it was a lot slower than their hyperdrives, but it was something completely different from what they were familiar with. That in and of itself was interesting. "We haven't really explored dark energy as a technological base."

"First time for everything, eh?"

Carter nodded. She doubted the strange ship would be able to detect them, but it paid to be careful. She asked Marks, "Have they altered course toward us?"

"No, they're continuing on their current course."

"Let's get closer," she ordered. "Put us into an orbit above and behind them. Continue scanning."

* * *

Colonel Sheppard sat in the Atlantis control chair, focused intently on the task at hand. He could _feel_ the city, its myriad sensors and systems seemingly an extension of his own body. It was an almost indescribable feeling, as euphoric as it was terrifying. Nothing was _telling_ him they were about to drop out of hyperspace, he simply _knew_.

" _Daedalus_ , be advised we're about to exit hyperspace and begin our approach," he informed over the radio.

"Copy that, Atlantis," Caldwell acknowledged from the _Daedalus_. "Good luck."

He replied. "Thanks. We're gonna need every ounce of it."

Though he couldn't see the city drop out of hyperspace, he could both feel it and imagine it- or maybe the city was creating the imagery for him. They retained quite a bit of velocity from the transition, but not enough to stay in orbit. That was by design. They were hurtling fast toward the atmosphere.

When they hit, the city began to shake, the inertial dampeners unable to fully compensate for the deceleration. The city's shield flared brightly as the friction of re-entry flashed the air around them to plasma. In under a minute, they'd slowed from tens of thousands of kilometres an hour to mere hundreds.

Atlantis was designed to land hard and fast. They smashed into the surface with a jarring jolt, bouncing slightly and creating a massive wave radiating outward in the deep blue ocean. The city bobbed slightly as the stardrive powered down and the stabilizers activated, anchoring the snowflake-like construct in position.

John knew that something was wrong before they even hit the surface. The city itself told him that, manifesting as an uneasy feeling in the back of his mind. As soon as he verified that the city was mostly unscathed, he jumped out of the control chair and bolted toward the control room.

* * *

"We missed," John said as soon as he made it back to the control room. "Did they see us?"

"What? I don't know!" Rodney huffed, tapping intently on his tablet. "It's possible."

The Colonel forced himself to calm down. Even though the landing wasn't a complete success, this was only the third- fourth?- time they had done it. The city was still in one piece and nobody was seriously hurt. "You know what, it was still a good landing. We can worry about the locals worry. Let's get a position fix and dial home."

"Already got it," Rodney told him smugly. He stepped down toward the DHD and quickly checked it over before announcing, "Dialling the gate."

Though the newer Pegasus stargates could operate in the Milky Way, it was somewhat awkward to do so, especially since the DHD was only designed with 36 keys. Both the Stargate itself and the DHD had changed their symbols automatically to a glowing-outline version of the familiar Milky Way glyphs, but neither could display all 39. The Stargate simply omitted the missing glyphs when it sat idle, while the DHD had several keys which displayed two symbols.

Rodney pushed one of the doubled keys twice, selecting the familiar Auriga glyph. The Stargate had no trouble displaying the necessary glyphs when dialing. The glyph appeared glowing in blue, spun around the circumference of the gate with the characteristic whirring sound, and locked on the first chevron. The next six glyphs, fortunately, were not on any doubled keys, and could be entered normally. Each one locked.

He took a deep breath before Starting from the sixth chevron, the unfamiliar symbol scrolling around the gate before reaching the top. The top chevron lit up briefly before the entire gate shut down, reverting to its gently glowing idle mode. "What? Chevron seven will not lock."

"Damn it," John breathed. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong with the gate? Our position is correct?"

"There's nothing wrong with the Stargate or the dialing computer," Rodney informed him, rechecking his tablet. "Maybe there's a problem on Earth's end, I don't know."

"Yeah, maybe," John admitted. He doubted it, but there was no sense in giving up so soon. "Let's try the Alpha Site."

The scientist hesitated before starting another dialling sequence. This one had two doubled keys, but he managed the entry perfectly the first time. Once again, the gate made it to the seventh chevron and failed to lock.

"This shouldn't be happening!" Rodney snapped. He motioned to the science team. "Check everything again, we've missed something." He turned back to John and shrugged. "We must have missed something."

"Get it figured out," John Sheppard told them. The adrenaline had long since worn off, and he was really starting to feel the fatigue from landing the city. Leaving the scientists to work, he retreated to the quieter confines of his office.

* * *

A well-worn UT-47 Kodiak drop shuttle zipped quietly through the air high above the surface of the ocean, kept aloft by tightly controlled mass effect fields and pushed forward by efficient fusion thrusters. The Kodiak was widely used throughout Alliance space and beyond and had a reputation as a tough, reliable workhorse. Aboard was the pilot, a single passenger, and a smattering of scientific equipment. They had left an hour ago to check out what they were assuming was a meteor impact. A few hikers had observed the glowing trail, and their seismographs had picked up the event itself.

"There it is, that blip again," Dr. Sara Nikolayeva remarked, pursing her lips at the strange sensor readings. She tapped the haptic holographics, trying to rearrange the data into something that made sense.

"What do you mean, blip?" Jiahao Wójcik asked from the pilots seat. He kept a light touch on the holographic controls, mostly admiring the incredible view of the ocean.

"Weren't you listening?" she chided, smacking him lightly on the shoulder. "Shortly after the impact event, there was an anomalous energy spike from this area. They keep happening, but I have no idea what they are."

"Are you sure it's not just your instruments acting up again?" he asked pointedly.

She winced. That had been an embarrassing incident. But they'd starting doing more checks after, and it hadn't happened since. "No, we checked them over yesterday. I'm positive, Jiahao."

"I don't think that was a meteor," the pilot concluded. A retired Alliance pilot who had served in the First Contact War, he was already considering the possibility that whatever hit the planet was less than friendly. "We should call in the Alliance."

"It's an unknown reading, not a slaver invasion," she replied with a laugh. She was a scientist first- a botanist with a minor in physics, but a scientist nonetheless. Her mind was set on the possibilities. "No, let's check it out."

"Your funeral." He tensed up slightly as he pushed over a holographic control and began the turn.

* * *

Colonel John Sheppard idly toyed with a pen in his office. He pondered their current situation. They were lost in their own home galaxy, on an alien planet with unknown inhabitants, unable to contact Earth. They weren't in a great position, but it could be worse. Nobody was trying to kill them yet. They'd get the city fixed, get back in touch with Earth, and either continue their mission or head back. It would be good to leave, but he did not look forward to-

"Colonel, we've got an unknown contact heading toward the city," a female voice shouted, snapping him back to reality.

"Great," the Colonel muttered, running out of his office and into the control room. He asked no one in particular, "How did they track us down?"

"They're probably picking up our energy readings," Rodney explained, joining him. "Dialing repeatedly isn't exactly subtle. That is, if they didn't just track the giant trail in the sky from where we first slammed into the atmosphere to where we landed. Provided they got a decent view of the event, it would be trivial to calculate the impact point."

"Abort the dialing sequence!" John ordered the gate controller. He turned back to the scientist. "How long before they're here?"

"It's a craft on a suborbital trajectory," he answered. "They'll be here in minutes."

"How big of a craft? Is it armed?" the Colonel asked.

"Maybe a little bigger than a puddle jumper," he answered, bringing up a wireframe of a squat, angular craft on a large-screen display. "And no, it doesn't appear to be armed."

"It's a welcoming party," John muttered. They had no idea if the unknown was hostile, but they had no idea that they weren't, either. Contact may be inevitable, but he wanted to hold off on that as long as possible. He liked meeting new people as much as anyone else, but his years on the Expedition had taught him caution. It would be better to come back and meet these people under better circumstances. He asked, "Can we use the cloak?"

"Probably," Rodney answered honestly, scrolling through a set of readouts on his tablet. "The power conduits are damaged. Raising the cloak won't consume as much power as the stardrive, but there's still a possibility of an overload."

He made his decision. "Cloak the city."

* * *

"There was something here!" Sara cried, frustrated. She doubled checked the coordinates. They were correct and well within acceptable bounds. "We should be right on top of where that thing hit! If there was something, it would be right here. Can you go around again?"

The pilot almost refused, but decided to humor her, taking the Kodiak around for another lazy pass. What the hell, any time he spent up in the air was time he didn't spend dealing with various makework back at the colony. If there was something lurking out there, he was almost excited to see what the Kodiak could do. Sure, it was a mere shuttle, but so was the piece of junk he dodged Turian patrols with. Those had been the days!

"There's nothing here but ocean," Jiahao told the scientist. It was a beautiful ocean, completely clear on a sunny day. He relaxed slightly. Had to be the sensors. If it was slavers, they'd already have started shooting.

"You saw the vid. You saw those readings. You told _me_ that it wasn't a meteor," Sara insisted, unable to give up so quickly. She snapped her fingers. "Maybe it's a spacecraft that crashed. The blips could have been an emergency beacon."

He retorted gruffly, "I don't see any wreckage."

"We can't just leave," she insisted. Maybe she was obsessed, but she'd seen the readings. Something had to be causing them. "It could have moved. Maybe it didn't crash, it just _landed_ and took off again! Can you take us high to get a better view?"

It would make them a bigger target, but it would also make their sensors more effective. A decent tactical compromise if there was a threat, which there probably wasn't. Maybe he was paranoid. Jiahao pushed a translucent orange slider forward. "Going up."

* * *

With the situation on Atlantis under control, the _Odyssey_ had remained quietly trailing the strange ship. So far, their observation had revealed precious little. They were keeping the scanners at low power to prevent detection, and it seemed the ship in question was also under some kind of emissions control because they weren't transmitting, either.

"You know, I think we're missing a chance on P4Y-YJ7," Daniel mentioned, leaning against a console behind the command chair. "This is an unknown human civilization with advanced technology. We've come a long way, yes, but we could still learn a lot from them."

"Could even be the guys who built our mystery ship," Mitchell offered before adding, "I think Sheppard's right, though. There's a time for everything."

"We'll put it on the list and come back some time," Sam Carter concurred. She changed topics and asked, "Have either of you seen Teal'c or Vala?"

Daniel answered, "Well, Teal'c is kelno'reeming, and I honestly have no idea where Vala is right now."

She smiled. "Of course."

"Ma'am, I'm picking up another vessel decelerating through lightspeed!" Marks reported. "It's taking position behind the first."

"A friend?" Daniel asked.

"It's possible. The technology is similar but the appearance of the ships is quite a bit different." Carter handed her tablet to the archaeologist to take a look.

"Hmm... _Normandy_. Probably, but not necessarily the name of the ship. Definitely human, though. The other one, not so much." The new arrival, in contrast to the first sleek starship, appeared organic, with brown lumps around a metal structure. It was also considerably larger, dwarfing both the unknown human ship and the _Odyssey_. "Looks almost... Wraith."

The officer seated beside Marks told him, "We're picking up human contacts aboard the first vessel and an unknown race aboard the second... Colonel, I'm detecting high energy readings, possibly weapons charging."

Below them, a bright yellow beam lanced out of the alien vessel toward the human one. From the bridge of the _Odyssey_ , the punishing initial impact was visible, as were the secondary explosions and plasma trails that erupted from the side of the ship.

"Whoa!"

"Tactical assessment, Lieutenant!" Carter snapped.

"Weapon is a particle beam of fairly low power. It would barely scratch our shields, and the unknown vessel does not appear to possess shields of its own," she answered, hands flying over her controls. "The human vessel is attempting evasive maneuvers, but has sustained heavy damage and is venting atmosphere."

Colonel Carter nodded, but did nothing. The alien vessel fired on the human one again. This time, the beam lanced straight through, emerging from the other side of the ship with a cloud of vapor and debris rapidly forming behind it.

"The lady just said we can kick their asses," Mitchell prodded. "Let's help them out already!"

"We don't know who's shooting at who," Daniel reminded them. "I mean, we have no idea who's the bad guy here. Remember Euronda? Do we really want to get involved in someone else's war on the wrong side?"

"You're saying we should just let those people die?"

"Believe me, this is not easy to watch, but we do have to be careful about this," the archaeologist pointed out. "Sam, is there anything else we can do without tipping our hand?"

The Colonel weighed her options. Intervening would be dangerous, and it had come back to bite them as many times as it had worked out. She couldn't just sit on her hands and do nothing, however. "Standby on the transporters. Secure Cargo Bays Delta and Echo and prepare to beam survivors aboard on my order. Humans into Delta, aliens into Echo."

"Yes, ma'am."

They watched as the alien vessel relentlessly hammered the clearly outmatched human one. The next shot blew off one of its drive pods. Still, the little ship attempted evasive maneuvers, the pilot fighting against their failing engines. The next two shots cut through the hull, reducing the ship to a barely-spaceworthy flaming wreck.

"They're dead," Mitchell remarked, a hint of anger in his voice. As if to emphasize his point, the mysterious ship fired again.

"Is there anyone still on board?" Carter asked.

"No, ma'am, they're all on escape pods, and the alien vessel is not firing on them... wait, I'm picking up one life sign floating free and fading rapidly," she reported frantically.

"Beam them to our infirmary," Carter ordered quickly.

"What about the pods?" Daniel asked, concerned.

"Are they in a stable orbit?"

"Yes, ma'am," the Lieutenant answered. "Unknown vessel is powering engines and leaving."

As quickly as it had arrived, the strange starship left, leaving only a debris field and a smattering of tiny escape pods in its wake. Unlike their hyperdrives, the dark energy realspace FTL created no prominent visual distortion. The ship simply accelerated and vanished into the distance.

"Major Marks, you have the bridge," Carter ordered, standing up. "Let's go meet our new friend."


	2. Chapter 2

After sitting untouched for months, I finished this up in the space of about a week. The order here is slightly anachronic. The events on Atlantis are happening sort of simultaneously with the events on the Odyssey.

 **2: Revealed**

Reginald Shepard groaned as he gradually slipped back into consciousness. Though he was barely aware of the bed beneath him and the thin sheet above, he already wanted to return to his catatonic state. His head pounded and his body ached as if he'd just woken up after spending a long lonely night slamming down a collection of exotic alien beverages.

It might have been a long lonely night slamming down a collection of exotic alien beverages, but if it had been, wouldn't he remember it?

Probably not.

An incessant beeping wormed its way into his awareness. That was probably what had woken him up, he realized. Before he could perform his usual morning routine of rolling over and smashing the shit out of his quaintly old-fashioned alarm clock, the beeping stopped.

Good. Maybe he could go back to his dream. He'd been dreaming about... damn it, what had he been dreaming about? He had been dreaming, right?

Something about salarians. Hot sexy salarian babes- in the dream, he thought so, he had no idea how that could be true- offering him the galaxy on a platter. Literally, he thought, although his memory of the dream was fading rapidly as it always did. It was a good dream. Excellent, even.

Well, almost. Why salarians of all things? Why couldn't they be asari? Irritated, he forced his eyes open, resisting the urge to slam them shut again against the mostly-artificial light streaming through the windows of his studio apartment.

He brought up the clock on his omni-tool. It was 1314 already. Shit! He threw off his covers and bolted out of bed, nearly falling over as a wave of vertigo washed over him. He managed to stumble halfway to the small lavatory before remembering he'd been fired from his last job three days ago.

Absentmindedly, he sat down on the edge of his bed and checked his omni-tool again, able to make out more as his eyes adjusted to the light. Sixty new messages. He frowned and scrolled through them, hoping that he'd won the lottery or at least got an interview with ExoGeni and knowing that he hadn't got either break. Some of the glut of messages was the usual spam, but most of the messages were from his younger sister, urging him to contact her as soon as possible.

"What do you want, Melia?" Reggie muttered to himself. He initiated a video call to his sister, and after half a minute of waiting it connected. A familiar face appeared in holographic form above his omni-tool, and with an awkward flick of his hand he moved it to the holoscreen across from his bed.

"Hey," his sister said quietly. Her slim, round face was dour, her brown eyes glassy and her regulation-length golden brown locks unusually frazzled.

"You haven't said a word to me since Christmas," Reggie snapped before he could stop himself. "Now you're blowing up my phone. What the _fuck_ do you want?"

Melia bit her lip, struggling to keep her composure. "Just check the news."

"Great, what did our illustrious sister do this time? Stop a slaver attack? Kill a thresher maw? Feed a bunch of starving volus orphans?" he snarked, nevertheless using his omni-tool to bring up the ANN news feed beside his sister on the same holoscreen. His jaw dropped once he saw the headline. "Fuuuuuuck."

"It's not on the news yet, but the Alliance has already started the search," his younger sister stated matter-of-factly. "It's not looking good. I don't know the details, but they're pretty sure this isn't a communications glitch."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me earlier?" he seethed over the line.

"I tried," Melia corrected harshly. "I called you three hours ago, as soon as I found out. You muttered something about salarians and hung up on me."

"Sorry," he said unconvincingly.

"Hopefully, this is just a false alarm, but-"

Reggie cut her off rudely. "She's probably dead along with everyone on that ship. The Geth don't piss around."

Melia knew her brother well, and was tempted to dismiss his pessimism, but knew he had a point, "Yeah. If it comes to that, the ceremony's going to be there on the Citadel. That's where they're going to take whatever's left to find. I'm already cleared to be there and Mom says she's gonna try to get leave. You should be there too, Reg. I know it's not too far out of the way for you."

"Why?" the elder Shepard snapped. He regretted it immediately, as always, but just couldn't stop himself. The words rolled off his tongue like venom. "Our sister hated me even more than you do, and I don't exactly have a lot of love for her either. I'm not a hero, but you know what? I'm fine with that. I'm still alive. Hero of the Citadel, martyr against the Geth, good for her. She got what she always wanted, and I want nothing to do with it. Tell me again, why should I be there?"

His sister's forced calm broke. She seethed, "You're a real piece of-"

With a flick of his wrist, Reggie hung up once again. He reached for a bottle on his nightstand, grabbed it, and tipped it back into his mouth. Two drops landed on his tongue, stinging slightly when they hit.

He threw the bottle across the room. It bounced twice before coming to rest under a pile of unwashed clothing.

"Fuck the universe."

* * *

The blonde-haired woman tapped her fingers lightly against her legs as she stepped into the infirmary. Like the rest of the _Odyssey_ , it was a drab, utilitarian affair. It was quiet, but far from silent, with the hum of ventilation fans and the low thrum of the engines reverberating through the space. She could get used to this. Not the infirmary part- hospitals were awful anywhere no matter how high-tech the equipment and how great the staff- but the starship part.

Colonel Carter asked quietly, "How's our patient doing?"

"Surprisingly well, considering the circumstances. I think you pulled her out fast enough," the young doctor answered. "She's still functional and should make a full recovery. But... even on the Odyssey, vacuum exposure isn't something we deal with a lot. She's tough, though. And it looks like she's been through a lot before."

 _A lot like us_ , Carter didn't say. Instead, she asked, "When can we talk to her?"

"We think she's actually awake now, but she refuses to respond," he offered with an apologetic shrug. "Sorry. Usually my patients are pretty cooperative. I'm not really into the whole getting them to talk thing..." He trailed off awkwardly.

The Colonel offered a smile. "That's quite alright, Doctor. You've done a great job. I'll talk to her."

The infirmary was currently empty except for their guest. She was laying on a standard infirmary bed on one end of the room. An IV drip ran into her arm and a monitor beeped softly beside her. Her red hair was cut short, military-like, and a faint scar cut across her face. The suit the woman had been wearing- or what was left of it- sat in a plastic bin on the other side of the room. She made a mental note to examine the technology at the soonest opportunity.

On close inspection, the woman looked like she was trying her damnedest to appear asleep. She'd never been very good at that, but Jack was, and she knew how to tell the subtle difference. Well, she could for Jack. With their mystery guest, she wasn't quite sure. Still, she said confidently but quietly. "I know you're awake."

She offered no response.

Carter pressed forward. If the woman were awake, hopefully she's listen. If she wasn't, well, there was no loss. "The ship you were aboard was destroyed and you were ejected into space. We were able to bring you aboard before your suit failed."

The woman's eyes snapped open. Green irises flicked too and fro, a brief look of confusion crossing the woman's face before it turned into a blank mask. She said in a monotone voice, "Jane Shepard. Lieutenant Commander. 5923-AC-2826."

She suppressed a smirk and answered in the same tone. "Samantha Carter. Colonel. 521432988." The humor faded from her voice. "I know you're confused, but I assure you we don't mean you any harm. We can help you get home, but we'd really like to know who you are, where you came from, and what attacked you."

"Where's the rest of my crew?"

"Everyone left on your ship when it was destroyed made it to the escape pods," she replied, trying to put it gently and at the same time hoping the other woman would understand the implications. "You were the only one blown into space."

The Commander nodded, digesting the information. She asked, "This is your ship, Colonel?"

"Yes," she replied, a hint of pride in her voice. "It's called the _Odyssey_."

"Which service?"

"United States Air Force. That name probably doesn't mean a lot to you, although we have been active around the galaxy," she answered. "I'm from a planet called Earth. To the rest of the galaxy we're usually known as the Tau'ri."

A look of confusion crossed her face, but she suppressed it quickly. "The ship that attacked us. Why didn't it attack you?"

Carter explained that easily. "This ship is equipped with technology that makes it undetectable to most known sensors. They had no idea we were here."

"We have technology like that, too."

Though similar in intent, whatever they were using was extremely crude in comparison to the Odyssey's cloak. They had seen right through it, after all. "Respectfully, Commander, while I don't doubt your stealth technology works against your own technology, it didn't affect our ability to detect you at all. I'd imagine the ship that attacked you also has better sensors than your own."

The commander began, "So why-"

The colonel raised her hand for silence, leaning into her earpiece. A look of worry crossed her face. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

* * *

Commander Jane Shepard knew something was going on. She wasn't sure _what_ , exactly, but these people were _not_ on the level with her. Things were _not_ how they seemed. None of it made any sense.

She started organizing the facts in her head, running through the possibilities.

Was she dead? She wasn't the terribly spiritual type. Her focus was to endure and survive, and if there was a higher power out there she'd let the chips fall where they may. Maybe she was dead, but it wasn't a useful perspective to consider. Anything was possible, she supposed.

Could the Colonel have been telling the truth? The United North American States _did_ have their own fleet, but as far as she knew, they didn't operate anything this far out and it was their Navy, not their Air Force, that was responsible for the fleet. It also left the question of how a patrol frigate- their largest vessels were just barely bigger than the _Normandy_ and far less advanced- survived the attack.

Of the scenarios, it was the one that was the most possible in that it didn't require any really weird shit. Under the known rules of the universe, it was all possible. The United North American States _could_ build a starship. They _could_ operate out here. They _could_ have a black as hell starship that belonged to their air force. They _could_ build something that could kill whatever it was that killed the Normandy. Even the question of how she ended up aboard was easy to answer. She blacked out and they picked her up in a shuttle. But it was still quite a stretch. And it was going a little far into the conspiracy theories for her liking.

It was also possible that she had been knocked out at some point during the Like the "actually dead" theory, it wasn't terribly useful. If _this_ was a dream, how much of her life was a dream? There were some deep philosophical questions there, but she was a soldier, not a philosopher.

The most likely answer, in her current understanding, was the one she liked the least.

She was pretty sure it was a Reaper ship that attacked the _Normandy_. What else could have seen right through their stealth systems and wrecked them in a few hits? It _could_ , she admitted, be a Geth ship using Reaper technology, but that wasn't a lot better. If the Reapers had attacked them, it was possible that they picked her up, too. She didn't know exactly why they might do that, but she knew they didn't like her one bit and probably had some horrifying plan in mind.

That meant that this was not a human ship at all. She was in the hands of the Reapers. This ship might be all in her mind, her body connected to some kind of machine. Or it was possible that they actually built a replica and it was really just a few rooms in the corner of a giant space cuttlefish. Either way, they were trying to get something out of her via deception. Perhaps the Prothean knowledge in her mind.

It wasn't a perfect theory. Why would the Reapers portray a strange USAF ship instead of a familiar Alliance one? Why bring in people she'd never known or heard of instead of ones she trusted? Was this the best they could do? Did they think this was somehow more plausible? That might be the best answer. Maybe they were hoping she'd ask questions, but the wrong ones.

For the time being, she would play along. She would search for answers, and if they gave her an opening, she would take it.

* * *

Shortly after the Colonel left, a brown-haired man with square-rimmed glasses hurried into the room, muttering something to the doctor as he scurried past. "Sorry, I ran into Vala on the way and-" He stopped suddenly, looking around, then sighed.

"Looking for someone?" Jane asked from her position in bed.

"Uh, yes, I'm assuming Sam ran off," the man told her. "Was she here?"

"Yeah. It looked like someone told her something she really didn't want to hear. Guess it comes with the job," she answered naturally before introducing herself. "Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard."

"Doctor Daniel Jackson. I'm an archaeologist, as odd as it sounds," he reciprocated, taking a seat beside her bed. "Actually it's a very useful skill set to have out in the galaxy."

She suppressed a smile. As it turned out, it was, as she'd found out firsthand. It wasn't just the profession that reminded her of Liara, but the awkward mannerisms as well.

"You're the commander of the Normandy?" Daniel asked curiously, taking her silence as an invitation to continue.

In her mind, she went back to the destruction of her ship. The lethal beams cutting it apart, the fires and escaping atmosphere and the men and women who didn't make it to the escape pods. If anyone really made it out- No. Now was not the time to grieve. She nodded sharply. "I was."

"Your crew is safe," he reassured her, sensing her tension.

"Not everyone made it to the escape pods," Jane surmised. The Colonel- Sam, Daniel had called her- had implied as much.

"No." He cringed. "I'm sorry. We wanted to stop the attack, but you have to understand we've ended up in hot water intervening in the past. Sometimes it ends badly, for us and for them. We couldn't risk making things worse."

In Jane's eyes, his story had just gone from sane to absurd. "This happened before? Where?"

"We once visited a world called Tegalus," Daniel explained. His voice was sad, and she could tell that he'd personally witnessed it. "There were two countries on this world, Rand and Caledonia, locked in a state of civil war. When we came through the Stargate, we inadvertently motivated a radical religious minority to rise up and take control of the government. We sort of fixed that, but eventually they destroyed each other, and arguably that was our fault too."

"Stargate?" she asked skeptically. His story was believable enough, in an alternate universe where any of those words made sense. What the hell were they- Reapers or otherwise- playing at?

"It's a device that allows near-instantaneous transportation between worlds using wormholes," Daniel told her. He flipped through his notebook and held it out to her.

Inside was a crude but fairly detailed drawing of a ring encircled by nine chevrons. Inside the ring was another ring, this one inscribed with several symbols. She couldn't read the scribbled notes, some of them recognizably English and some in a language she'd never seen before. "Never seen one of those before."

"These were built by a race we called the Ancients a very long time ago. It's how we took our first steps into the stars. We discovered it buried on our world, and there's a very long story behind that-"

"Why are you talking to me like I'm an alien?" Jane finally asked. Whatever he was spouting, she was done playing along with it. "You're human, aren't you?"

"Yes, and..." A look of realization dawned on Daniel's face. "Oh. You've been assuming we're from your homeworld, haven't you?"

"Well, yes. Why wouldn't I? You're human, aren't you?" She eyed him suspiciously. "Aren't you?"

"Yes, but you may not realize that humans live on many worlds in the galaxy. Some of them were seeded by the Ancients, the ones who built the Stargates-"

She raised an eyebrow. "The Ancients?"

"Well, that's not what they called themselves, obviously," Daniel answered, irritated. "Anyway, my point is that yes, I'm human, and you're human, but we're from different planets and that's actually very common. Some of the people on this ship, in fact, are not from my planet."

She laughed. "You're crazy. Humans come from Earth, that's where we evolved. If there were more, we would have discovered them by now."

To her surprise, utter confusion crossed his face. "You're from Earth?"

"Technically I'm from Mindoir, but it's a colony of Earth, yes," she answered, a hint of frustration in her voice.

He tapped his fingers against his notebook. "That's a problem."

"That's a _problem_?" _Of all the things that had come up,_ this _was somehow the problem?_

"Yes." Daniel pinched his nose. "Okay. You say you're from a colony of Earth. We didn't have any when we left, but it _could_ happen some time in the future. What year is it?"

Jane was pretty sure he knew what the strange archaeologist was getting at, as much sense as it made. "Twenty-one eighty-three."

"And that's common era, same calendar system as used in the late twentieth century?"

She shrugged. "Hasn't changed in a really long time."

"Well, that _almost_ makes sense," Daniel replied after a moment of thought. "Something happened with our drive on our way here. It could have shot us into the future."

"Time travel almost makes sense." Jane deadpanned. _They weren't discussing this as a_ serious _possibility, were they?_

"If this is the future- from our perspective, obviously from yours it's very much the present- it explains the colonies and it explains why we found you way out here. It all fits," he stated before frowning. "Except for the part were you don't seem to recognize any of this. You should know about the Stargate, you should know about this ship and maybe I'm being a little narcissistic but you should recognize me from the history books. Obviously, disclosure must have happened-"

"Disclosure of what?"

"The Stargate."

"The what now?" she asked.

"Exactly." Daniel toyed idly with his notebook. "Damn it."

"What?"

"Your galaxy is clearly very different from mine," he mused. "It could be the same galaxy at a different time, but you don't know about the Stargate and you're confused about humanity being out there in the galaxy. Even if we buried the gate tomorrow- tomorrow in my time, that is- you'd run into those things long before making it out here. Which leaves only one possibility that I know of."

"Which is that you're making everything up," she finished smugly.

"You're actually reasonable in saying that, because from your point of view everything I say _is_ wrong. See, this could be an alternate reality, another universe similar to but distinct from my own," the archaeologist answered, surprisingly calm and serious about the possibility. "Of course, that is assuming _you're_ telling us the truth and not just making everything up."

"An alternate reality?" She laughed. "What the hell are you playing at?"

"A very real possibility. I understand your skepticism, but believe me, it could happen," Daniel told her sharply. "The first time I went to an alternate universe, they didn't believe me, either."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was this man serious? Was he trying to unbalance her? Or was he simply batshit crazy? "You're telling me you've actually been to an alternate universe."

"Very briefly," he answered with absolute sincerity.

"You know, you're right about one thing," Jane said after a moment's pause. "I could be totally bullshitting you."

"Or that." He stood up. "You going to be alright here? I have to run this by Sam."

"You do that." She could probably take him, the awkward-looking doctor and the spindly little nurse. But she had no idea what was on the other side of the bulkhead outside the sickbay. The time to escape was not now. She waved him off. "Take all the time you want."

* * *

"And you think she's telling the truth," Colonel Carter said incredulously. Her well-trained eyes briefly scanned the bridge. Her crew was good, excellent even, but it was her job to watch over them. Of course, they were all doing their jobs with perfect efficiency. She ran a tight ship.

"I don't see why she'd be lying," Daniel responded. "I mean, she seemed just as confused about this as we are."

Sam exhaled, biting her lip. "I thought we were done with alternate realities."

Daniel shrugged. "Apparently not."

"Well, Atlantis says their visitor isn't going anywhere," she mentioned. "I'll float this to Sheppard. But whether this is an alternate reality or not, making contact is risky. Really risky."

"Oh, I know," he agreed.

"I was thinking about that. Ideally, if this is an alternate reality we should make our way back as soon as possible, with as little interference as possible. But if we can't find a way back, we could be here for a while." She went through the math in her head. The limiting factor was food, and they'd brought enough for a short mission only. Maybe they could rig the transporters to replicate food, but then they'd run into energy limitations. "And if that's the case, we're going to need friends."

"Yeah, I think I might have already told our guest too much to keep this quiet," Daniel added with a wince.

"No, I started that," Sam assured him. "We couldn't have known. We were operating under our usual first-contact assumptions."

"Of course, that's all assuming this really is an alternate reality," Daniel reiterated. "Any luck contacting Earth?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Any other ideas?"

She nodded. "I have a few, but it'll take some time to try any of them."

"Ma'am, I'm picking up three vessels approaching at faster-than-light speeds and slowing rapidly," Major Marks reported. "Starships are of a similar configuration to the _Normandy_ and have similar energy signatures."

"How long until we have visual?" Carter asked. Though nice to look at, getting a visual-light image of a starship was one of the hardest things to do. Their electro-optical systems- basically highly advanced telescopes- had limited resolving power, and a starship wasn't very bright. Like their radar and infrared scanners- but unlike their subspace sensors- it was also subject to light lag. Fortunately, that wasn't a big problem at these distances, but the resolving power was.

"Three minutes," he answered before adding helpfully, "I'm picking up transmissions from the starships to the escape pods."

"Can we listen in?"

The Major tapped on his console before shaking his head. "No, ma'am, it's encrypted."

"Damn." They could probably decode the transmissions with their computers, but it would take time. It could be useful intel later, but wouldn't do them any good now.

"Starships are launching small craft," Marks reported. "They're vectoring for the escape pods."

"Rescue operation?" Daniel asked quietly.

Carter dropped into her command chair. "If it's not, we'll blast them into dust. Standby on forward railguns."

* * *

Jeff Moreau, known to his friends as Joker, said nothing as the rescue shuttle docked with the escape pod and a pair of burly Marines carried him aboard.

He was in shock. Well, not shock, exactly. Okay, maybe it was shock, but not because his legs were broken in a dozen different places. No, this was something else. It wasn't the pain that had him reeling. It was the loss of the _Normandy_ , or rather someone aboard it.

He said nothing as the shuttle made the five-minute trip back to the _New York_. He was pretty sure it was the _New York_ \- one of their rescuers mentioned the name.

The Commander's last moments kept replaying in his mind. She'd dumped his half-broken ass into the escape pod, but never made it in herself. He watched helplessly from the window as an explosion knocked her away. Watched helplessly as puffs of vapour sprang from her suit and she struggled to no avail. Watched helplessly as she disappeared in a flash of light.

He said nothing as they strapped him onto a gurney after the shuttle landed and began wheeling him toward the sickbay.

It was his fault. He'd insisted on trying to save his dead ship, and now she was dead or worse.

He reached up toward the ensign pushing the gurney and grabbed her shirt, startling her. "I need to speak to your commanding officer."

She recovered quickly, reassuring him, "We're aware of your condition, and we have some of the best doctors in the fleet. You're in good hands, Lieutenant."

"It's not about me," he insisted. "It's about the attack. I need to speak to your captain, now!"

That seemed to work. The- nurse? doctor? Marine?- reached up and tapped her ear. He couldn't make out the words, but hoped she was calling for the captain and not a shrink.

They rounded the corner, and a tall man in a crisp uniform met them halfway down the hallway. The stripes on his sleeves identified him as a full commander.

He leaned down, helping push the gurney as he went. "I'm the commander of this ship. What can you tell me, Lieutenant?"

"Commander Shepard might still be alive," Joker told him. His voice came out raspy and pained.

"Commander Shepard was not among the survivors," he said firmly but sadly. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant."

He nodded grimly, an action that sent pain reeling through his body. "I know. They took her."

"Who?"

"The... whatever it was that attacked us," he answered.

"How do you know this?" Joker could tell he was skeptical, but interested.

"I watched her get spaced. And then she disappeared in some kind of beam of light." Joker answered. In retrospect, it was probably an absurd statement in context, but they'd already given him painkillers that left him with no verbal filters.

The ensign stabbed him in the back. She told the captain, "Sir, Lieutenant Moreau is in shock. It's probably a hallucination or false recollection brought on by the trauma."

"It wasn't a hallucination," he insisted. "I saw them take her."

The captain shook his head. "Using what? A transporter? These things exist only in science fiction, Lieutenant. You know that."

"I don't know," Joker answered honestly. "They saw through our stealth systems and cut right through our barriers. Who knows what kind of technology they have?"

"We'll search the wreckage," the captain assuaged before tempering, "Don't get your hopes up. Even if we can't find an obvious body, there might simply not have been enough left to identify."

"You won't find her," he insisted. "It's the Reapers, I know it. They have Commander Shepard!"

* * *

Admiral Hackett studied the footage closely before swiping it to the side, placing it on a holoscreen on the wall of his small office. Arcturus Station was a military installation, and even the commander of the entire Navy didn't get a lot of space. He asked, "You're telling me this was not a meteor?"

A dark-skinned man wearing the strips of a Captain responded, "We don't believe so, sir. Analysis of the course track tells us this was a controlled atmospheric entry, and analysis of the footage tells us the object was ellipsoid in shape. We know the colonists went to investigate, but if they found anything they haven't contacted us yet."

"Or they weren't able to."

"That is also a possibility, sir."

Hackett got right to the point. "Do you believe these events are all connected?"

"There is a good possibility, sir," the Captain answered.

"A good possibility? A strange object dropping from the sky in a remote colony, the disappearance of the _Normandy_ with Commander Shepard aboard, and some spurious energy readings, in close but not adjacent sectors," the Admiral said incredulously. "Forgive me for being skeptical, Captain."

"Yes, sir, but consider that both locations are close to the edge of the known galaxy," he defended. "The Normandy was headed into Geth space, and we know the geth are allied with the Reapers. If that's what this is, it could be the pretext to an invasion."

"You believe the Reapers exist?" Hackett asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Sir, I'm trained to evaluate threats as they appear without passing judgment on their plausibility," "If you're asking for my personal opinion, Admiral, I think it's all absurd. It's possible these are unconnected events. But it's also possible that I'm wrong, and if that's the case..."

"We can't ignore this." With a flick of his hand, Hackett brought up a map of the galaxy marked with the positions of several Alliance units. He studied it only briefly before making his decision. "I'm assigning the _Perugia_ and the _Aleppo_. We need to find out what the hell is going on."

* * *

"What do you mean the cloak's going to fail?" Colonel John Sheppard asked, leaning over the scientist's shoulder. The readouts didn't mean a lot to him, but he could tell by the flashing red that they were not good.

"It means that in a very short period of time we will be visible to anyone looking for us," Rodney McKay answered.

"Is this because of the damage to the city?" John asked immediately.

"Yes and no," Rodney answered. "It certainly hasn't helped any. The control crystals that modulate the cloak are burning out. That would have happened anyway, but it probably would have been a lot slower if the power was steady and the shield emitters were working properly."

John couldn't help himself. "Why?"

"Look, the cloak was always a hack. Yes, you can convert a shield into a cloak and a cloak into a shield, but it was never designed to do that. And, I'll admit, our patch job wasn't great. We literally just plugged in a jumper cloaking generator, rearranged a few control crystals, and turned it on." He sighed. "I'm amazed it's kept working this long."

"Tell me the good news," John pressed.

"The good news is that it's the cloaking generator that's burning out, not the shield emitters themselves," he answered reluctantly. "Once the cloak fails, we'll be able to get the shield up with maybe a few minutes of recalibration."

"I meant the part where you tell me you can fix it," He paused. "You can't fix it?"

"No. What part of _the crystals are burning out_ don't you understand?" the scientist answered, irritated. "I can't fix a pile of ash. Maybe we could swap in fresh ones from a jumper, but that would take more time than we have."

"It's been hours. They must be leaving soon," John pointed out, glancing at the sensor readout. "Can't you rig something up? Make it last a little longer?"

"No. There's nothing I can do," Rodney told him. "The cloak is going, it's only a matter of time. You've got maybe seven minutes before they'll be able to see us."

"Seven?" John asked. "Why seven?"

"Because that's what it is!" the scientist replied, annoyed. "By the way, closer to six now."

John mulled over the information. Hiding was no longer an option. The craft didn't seem to be a threat, and he hoped their intentions were as peaceful as his own. If they weren't, though...

He ordered, "Get jumpers in the air. The moment our cloak drops, open a channel to our visitor."

* * *

Jiahao blinked hard at the readings on his console. It wasn't the same energy signature, not exactly, but it was similar. It started out faint, but quickly climbed. He couldn't believe it. Was the crazy scientist right? "I'm picking up some kind of power spike!"

"Power spike!" Sara scrambled to bring up the readouts on her interface. The energy reading was significant now. She had no idea what it was- although she had a few theories- but whatever it was, it was big, loud, and about to do something. "This is it! It has to be!"

"It's growing," Jiahao warned. He manipulated the controls and pulled up, the Kodiak drop-shuttle rapidly gaining altitude on its mass effect drives. "I'm putting some distance between us. It doesn't look like any weapon we've seen, but..."

"It's not a weapon," Sara called, noticing something in the corner of her eyes. "It's... huge. Turn us around! We have to see this!"

The pilot grumbled, but complied, swinging the Kodiak around to point toward the errant energy reading. They had a clear view of its source through the virtual viewport projected in front of them, overlaid with data that hardly made any sense even to a trained observer.

Before them shimmered the towering spires of a city unlike any they had ever seen. The shape of the towers was vaguely reminiscent of turian architecture of mid-21st century human trends, yet their sheen and texture was at the same time completely alien. They sat atop a snowflake-shaped base floating impossibly on the surface of the water, waves crashing gently against its edges. It was not a large city, but the fact that it had seemingly dropped out of the sky and become invisible spoke to the level of technology that must have been present within it.

Sara's jaw dropped. "Oh my god."

* * *

Yes, I reused an old Shepard or two. Melia was in Insert Obligatory Physics Joke Here, and Reggie was planned to be in it as well but I stopped long before his first appearance.


	3. Chapter 3

First and foremost, sorry about the exceptionally long delay. I was very busy with a lot of other stuff, and wanted to finish Emergence first.

I want to get some elements of Andromeda into this story. Unfortunately, my poor 960M is just not good enough to run the game anywhere close to decently. I'll be rigging up a 1080 soon but until then I'm sticking to Skyrim and avoiding spoilers.

So, some characterization of Shepard, and the shuttle has a name now. The chapter started to run long and information-dense so I decided to defer some of the discussions to the next one. I actually finished this a few days ago but revised and procrastinated before deciding perfection was the enemy of good enough.

* * *

 **3: Between**

"This could be first contact. We need to try to communicate with them!" Sara said excitedly as they hovered above the alien city. "Damn it, we don't have the right equipment, and I'm not the right-"

Jiahao had a very different opinion. He opened his mouth to object before spotting an indicator blinking on his HUD. Surprised, he pointed out, "They're hailing us. Oldschool FM radio."

"What? What do we say? How do we communicate?" Sara asked. She shook her head. "I'm not ready for this, but... just put them on."

"-respond. Repeat, unknown craft, this is Atlantis Base. If you can understand this message, please respond," a surprisingly human voice crackled at them in plain English.

"They speak our language?" Jiahao asked, surprised.

"Open a channel!" the scientist shouted, excited beyond belief. This was probably first contact- no, it _had to be_ first contact- and she was right in the middle of it! She replied, "Atlantis Base, this is the shuttle _Rocinante_. Our intentions are peaceful."

"Glad to hear it," came the response. "Standby."

Another indicator on Jiahao's HUD blinked at them, the interface chirping gently along with it. Ahead of them, a pair of small craft emerged from the central spire of the city and zipped away above and behind them.

"They're coming out to meet us," the scientist said, amazed.

"Or shoot us down," he warned, hands tensed over the flight controls ready to evade at a moment's notice. Though if his readings were right, it would be in vain; the strange craft could out-turn, out-accelerate and out-climb his Kodiak with ease. Hopefully, their weapons would suck.

"No, I think if they wanted to kill us they would have done it already," Sara objected.

One of the strange machines came around, slowing into a calm hover in front of them. Up closer, they could make out more details. It was largely cylindrical, with an angled back end and geometric patterns cut into the hull. A pair of pods extended from its sides, with what looked like engines glowing within.

Another voice told them over the same channel, "Okay, _Rocinante_ , here's what I want you to do. See that ship floating in front of you? That's me. I want you to follow me in, nice and slowly, and we're gonna land on the east pier. I know this all seems a bit threatening, but we're not gonna hurt you. We just want to meet."

"Got it, we'll follow you in," Sara acknowledged.

"I hope you're right about this," Jiahao growled, clearly uneasy with the situation. Nonetheless, he followed the strange craft as it accelerated toward the city. "You realize the comm relay's in the shadow, right? If this goes wrong-"

"It won't," she countered firmly. "When we met the turians, they shot first. These people, whoever they are, aren't doing that. I think they're as curious as we are, maybe even a little scared."

He laughed darkly. "Yeah, well, I'm a lot scared."

The alien craft came into a hover over a flat area of one of the city's arms, then moved upward to give the shuttle more room to land. Reluctantly, Jiahao brought their own craft into a hover, mass effect thrusters flaring as they slowly lost altitude and touched down. A dull clank reverberated through the hull as they hit the surface.

"Nice landing, _Rocinante_ ," the voice from the alien craft told them. "Our commander is waiting to meet you. You should see him as soon as you step out."

Jiahao was the first out of his seat. He immediately went for a compartment in the side of the shuttle behind his seat, withdrawing a pair of Kessler light pistols. He clipped one to his hip and held the other out to his Sara.

"They're peaceful," she protested. "Besides, what makes you think that'll do any good? These are very advanced aliens."

Jiahao raised an eyebrow. "You willing to bet your life on that?"

Reluctantly, the scientist took the offered weapon and clipped it to a magnetic patch on the hip of her flightsuit.

They headed to the middle of the shuttle, and with a tap on Jiahao's omni-tool, opened the sliding door on its side. They were near one of the outer towers of the city, and a group of people stood near an entrance door.

 _Very human people_ , the duo immediately realized. There were six of them in total. Four stood to the side, wearing what looked like late 20th century military uniforms with outdated rifles and flag patches of countries that no longer existed. Two stood in the middle, wearing slightly different black uniforms. The taller of the two waved awkwardly at them.

Jiahao turned to the scientist. He echoed ironically, "Very advanced aliens?"

"Obviously, this isn't what they really look like," Sara explained confidently as she stepped ahead and to the ground, though he could sense a slight doubt in her voice. "They're facsimiles. I think they're trying to relate to us, except their point of reference is a few hundred years out of date. In fact, they might even be holograms."

The pilot squinted at the figures. He couldn't notice any shimmering or distortion. "Those don't look like holograms."

"These people hid a whole city from sight and sensors," Sara replied, rolling her eyes. She straightened up and marched toward the aliens, leaving Jiahao to catch up behind her.

"I'm Colonel John Sheppard. Welcome to Atlantis," the man in front introduced. His hair was messy, and stubble was beginning to break out on his face. He wore a similar military-style uniform as the others, though in black and with an old American flag patch on his shoulder. "You're probably pretty confused right now. Look, it's a long story, but we're not exactly from around here."

"Of course," Sara muttered to no one in particular.

Jiahao glared at her. "What do you mean, of course?"

"John, one of the most common names among humans," she explained quietly. "And Shepard, now one of the most famous."

"And United States Air Force, why? And _Atlantis_ of all things?" he hissed back. His right hand hovered near the gun at his hip.

"Oh, come on, really?" the man beside John Sheppard snapped. He was shorter, balding, and wore a grey uniform with a Canadian flag patch. "We're not deaf, you know."

"I'm sorry," Sara apologized, stepping forward. "It's just... I never thought I'd be the one to meet... I'm Sara. Sara Nikolayeva. This is Jiahao Wójcik. We're from a planet called Earth. But it looks like you already know about us, though we know nothing about you. What do you call yourselves? Where are you from? God, I'm rambling, aren't I? I blew it, didn't I?"

"Well, there's a new one," the shorter alien muttered to John Sheppard.

"Look, uh, we're not aliens. Not exactly. We're actually from Earth, just not _your_ Earth," John Sheppard told them, awkwardly scratching his head. "We think. I'm sorry to disappoint. It's all kind of confusing."

A mix of confusion and disappointment crossed Sara's face. "What do you mean?"

The man beside John said, emphasizing the _might be_ , "Well, we _might be_ in an alternate reality-"

John cut his companion off, whispering. "Sam sounded like she was pretty sure."

"Sam could be wrong," he retorted loudly. "I'd have to double-check the data-"

"Rodney," John growled at his companion before telling the visitors, "Why don't we head inside? We have a lot to talk about."

Jiahao stood his ground. "An alternate reality? That's impossible."

"Jiahao," Sara cautioned, gently pushing his arm away from his pistol. She turned to the alien-humans. "Yes. We have a lot to talk about indeed."

"Great," John said with a smile. He spun on his heel and headed for the entrance door.

* * *

"I don't like this place," Jiahao remarked. The door led to a long, wide corridor with grey-green metal walls occasionally interrupted by a lit column. The floor was a similar material, but in a reddish copper, and the ceiling above them was angled with an occasional beam cutting across it. A few metal crates, looking much more like what they would use than the advanced-yet-antiquated architecture, dotted the hallway. Two men in similar uniforms to the people they were following fretted over an open panel filled with lit crystals.

"I really don't think they're hostile," Sara repeated quietly in response.

John may or may not have heard the remark, "Sorry about the mess, guys, we haven't landed the city in a while and it kinda got a bit bumpy."

"Ah, yes, bumpy," Rodney echoed sarcastically. "That's a mild way of putting it."

Sara quickened her pace, catching up to John. She asked him, "Your people, do you all live in cities like this? It is a city, right? How did you build a place like this?"

"We really are human and we really didn't build it," John insisted. "In our reality, there really was an Atlantis, and it was in the Pegasus galaxy. We found the city some years back."

"The Pegasus galaxy?" she asked, confused.

John nodded. He stopped and waved his hand over a control panel before waving them into a closet with a control panel- an elevator, perhaps. "After you."

Sara stepped in without hesitation, Jiahao following cautiously behind. He whispered to her, "Either they're lying or they really aren't speaking our language."

She nodded. "Yeah. There must be something lost in translation."

"You ready?" John asked. He had joined them in the chamber along with Rodney, the two guards waiting outside. Punching a few commands into the control panel, he said with a grin, "Watch this."

There was a flash, and a brief feeling of vertigo, but seemingly nothing at all. Jiahao growled, "What happened?"

John didn't answer, instead waving his hand over another panel. The doors slid open, revealing a much different and much busier corridor. He motioned with one hand out of the chamber. "This way."

"Wow," Sara whispered. Either these people had the fastest elevator known to man, or an actual _transporter_.

"It's a transporter, in case you didn't get that," Rodney confirmed as they headed down the corridor. Another pair of guards joined them, hands near but not on their weapons.

"I hate this place," Jiahao growled to his companion.

Sara failed to suppress a laugh. "I love this place."

"It grows on you," John interjected.

"Excuse me, Colonel, where are we going, exactly?" Jiahao asked loudly.

"Conference room," he answered simply. They emerged from the corridor into an open area with several stained-glass windows breaking up its high walls. A broad staircase inlaid with strange geometric symbols led to a balcony above which seemed to be full of consoles and busy people. That was not what caught the attentions of the guests, however.

The centerpiece of the room was a large metal/stone (it was hard to tell) ring with seven chevrons visible around its circumference, inlaid with a series of blue glass tiles. As they strode past it, a symbol of dots and lines "chased" its way around the tiles before stopping at the chevron at the top. It stopped briefly before the device emitted a buzzing sound and powered down.

"Stop dialing, it's not going to work," Rodney shouted at a long-haired woman in the control room. "There's nothing to connect to."

"What's that?" Sara asked, mouth agape at the sight.

"Stargate," John answered simply.

"What?"

"You've never seen one of those before, have you?" he asked.

"Never," Sara answered honestly. She followed them into the conference room, taking a seat near the corner of the wood- _was that real wood?_ \- table in the center.

* * *

John wasn't really sure what to think of his guests. On one hand, they didn't seem to have any hostile intentions toward them, which was at least a place to start. On the other hand, they didn't seem to believe a word that came out of his mouth, and while Sara seemed to be fairly amicable, Jiahao was suspicious and tense.

Before he could reply to Sara's remark, Jiahao piped up. His question was simple but forceful. "Who are you people, really?"

He shrugged. "I already told you."

"I'm hearing United States, I'm hearing Atlantis, and no offense, Colonel, but you look two centuries out of date. I'm hearing all this shit about aliens and alternate realities. What's _really_ going on here?" the man repeated.

"Look, I've been up front with you about who we are," John pushed back. He understood the other man's reluctance, but it was frustrating to say the least. "So why don't you tell me what _you_ think is going on?"

"I don't know what's going on," he admitted in reply. "I just know that this doesn't make any sense. I see a city appear out of thin air, something out of a sci-fi novel, and I'm sitting across with someone who looks like they came out of an Iraq War reenactment and keeps claiming he's from some alternate reality. What the hell am I supposed to believe?"

"The truth," John repeated. "We're really from an alternate reality."

"Probably," Rodney interjected.

John glared at him. Now was really not the time. "Ninety-nine percent sure."

The scientist motioned with his hand. "Eighty, maybe."

"They said they're from Earth," he retorted. "We're also from Earth, and they're clearly not from our Earth."

"Maybe it's a different Earth," Rodney shot back. He snapped his fingers. "Like in Battlestar Galactica."

"It _was_ our Earth in _Galactica_ ," John argued. "Unless you're arguing that the 70s isn't our Earth, in which case I might agree with you."

"No, not the old one, the new one!"

"New one?"

"Forget it."

John turned to their guests, a new idea in his head. "Who won the 48th Super Bowl?"

"Uh, I don't know," Sara replied. "I don't really know sports. That was a long time ago, wasn't it?"

"I think that's one-zero for the alternate reality theory," John said smugly.

Rodney opened his mouth to make a smartass reply before closing it and admitting, "Yeah."

Jiahao had been quiet through the exchange, but finally called, "This isn't possible!"

"It's possible, in theory," Sara interrupted quietly. John got the impression that she was the scientist, and Jiahao was a soldier or pilot. It wasn't just that Sara looked like half Jiahao's height, but also the way they talked and carried themselves.

"We've proven that theory," Rodney pointed out.

"Look, uh, I'm pretty sure I know what's going on, but I want to be sure," John interrupted. It was an awkward time to ask, he knew, but Sam would have his ass if he didn't. "Have you heard of a place called Mindoir and what year is it?"

"Mindoir is a colony," Jiahao answered, offering as little information as possible while still answering the question. "And it's 2183."

"That matches with what the lady Sam picked up said," Rodney noted quietly. "That confirms it for us."

"Sorry, what does this all mean?" the alternate-human pilot asked. "I'm still not following."

"It means a lot, Jiahao," Sara stated, to their surprise. "If this is real, this could be even bigger than meeting a new extraterrestrial race."

"You believe them?"

"Someone had to build this place," Sara pointed out. "It's not Prothean, the style is wrong. And it's not something we could have built, either."

Suddenly, a technician stuck his head through the door. He told John, "Sir, it's almost time for the scheduled check-in with the _Daedalus_ and the _Odyssey_."

John stood up. "Look, uh, you might be here a while, so how about I get you something to eat, maybe I'll have someone swing by to explain a bit more."

Jiahao growled, "Do we have any-"

Sara elbowed her companion. "That would be great. Thank you, Colonel."

* * *

"Call should up in a moment, sir," the technician informed John as he strode into the busy control room.

He nodded and took his place in front of the camera. "Thanks."

A few seconds later, a burst of static appeared on screen, quickly resolving to a low-res, low-saturation image of a bald man on the flight deck of a 304-class battlecruiser.

"Colonel," John Sheppard greeted.

"Colonel," Steven Caldwell reciprocated.

"Colonels," Sam Carter echoed after her link came up, appearing beside Steven on the screen. Her feed lagged slightly, but looked mostly the same despite coming from lightyears farther away.

John asked lightly, "So, who's going first?"

"I suppose I can," Steven answered. He leaned back in his chair. "We don't have a lot to report up here. We've been scanning with the long-range sensors, and this sector's not exactly busy. There's some activity but we don't know enough about this place to tell whether that's a bad thing or not. I'm hoping one of you has some answers on that front."

"Well, our guest didn't exactly take things well last time, so we haven't tried again," Sam replied with a slight cringe. "I did take a look at what she had on her, and it's definitely human-built but nothing like what we have or would build. Even her armor was giving off strong dark energy readings."

John nodded. "I guess everyone's using it here."

"It's likely a a common techbase, yes," Sam agreed. "We didn't pick up any subspace transmissions, only EM. Some of them seem to be tunneled through something we haven't figured out yet."

"I take it we can't read their mail?" Steven asked.

"No," she answered with a shake of her head. "We're still heading for Earth and when we get there we'll know quite a bit more. But before that, I was hoping we could confirm her story or at least get more information. John?"

He replied, "When the city's cloak dropped, they had to have seen us. We hailed them, they answered, we talked."

"How did that go?" Sam asked.

"Pretty good, all things considered. They're-" he pointed toward the conference room "-over there."

"In the conference room?"

"Yes."

Steven appeared irate, though not exactly shocked at the statement. "With all due respect, Colonel, what the hell were you thinking?"

"They're under guard," he stated, standing his ground. "Heavier guard than they think, actually."

"We have no idea what their capabilities are," the starship commander snapped back.

"Look, they're explorers, just like us," John pointed out. "They're not here to hurt us. They're curious and they're confused as hell. This is way out there for them and they're just trying to make sense of it. They think we're lying but we're already getting over that."

"Who are they, exactly?" Sam asked, eager to divert the conversation away from a potential confrontation. She knew that despite his casual demeanor, John didn't make decisions lightly, and also knew that Steven really didn't like his relaxed style. "Human? Military?"

"Two humans. One seems to be military, the other is some kind of egghead," John answered. "I haven't talked to them long, but what they said seems to confirm your lady's story. They're from Earth and it's the future."

Sam exhaled sharply. "So we really are dealing with an alternate reality."

He nodded in reply. "Seems like it."

"Okay. That's going to change our pass on Earth a bit, but not much," Sam mentioned after a moment of thought. "I was already pretty sure, but I really didn't want it to be true. It's what happens after that's the big problem."

While the other two colonels pondered the significance of that statement and all its implications, Steven's mind immediately searched for solutions. "Do you think Doctor McKay could build an alternate reality drive?"

"No, it won't work," the man in question answered, walking up beside John with his tablet in hand. "I mean, I could build it, given enough time- I did it in the other reality, after all- but it won't help us much."

"Why not, doctor?" Steven asked. "Are we not in an alternate reality?"

"No, no, no, we're definitely right about that," Rodney replied. "I've been going over the sensor logs and running some calculations, and this is _definitely_ not our home universe. Like, four nines certain now. Look, we are a long, long way from home. The alternate reality drive is too slow."

"What do you mean it's too slow?" John asked, though he was already suspecting what the answer was. "It travels between _universes_ , it can't be slow."

"Okay, the notion of distance is kind of a nebulous concept when dealing with infinite possibilities, the specifics of which it would take me days to attempt to explain to you," Rodney complained in reply. He sighed. "It's too slow, there's no way of simplifying that. At the rate we observed it would take us years to get from here to our home universe, and that's if the drive doesn't burn out or suck us into some cosmic sinkhole first."

Steven inquired, "Can you speed it up?"

"Maybe, given time," he replied loudly. "In my professional opinion, we're going to be in for the long haul. It could take weeks to come up with a solution if it's possible at all. Yes, it sucks, I know, you don't have to tell me."

"Do you have any other ideas?" John pressed.

"It hasn't even been a day. Not yet."

"What about the matter bridge?" Steven suggested.

"Nope," Rodney immediately responded. "The city's too big, the power requirements would be enormous. We could maybe send one person back, but I'm not sure about even that."

If there was anything that really got the gravity of the situation across, it was Rodney admitting that he had nothing. "Sam, any ideas?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, John, he's right. We're not going home any time soon. It's time to start looking at our options."

"Agreed," Steven concurred.

"Yes. I don't like it, but-" A voice they couldn't quite make out interrupted her from off-screen. The neutral expression on her face turned to a deep frown. "She what?"

"What's going on?" Steven asked, concerned.

"Minor crisis. I can deal with it but I have to go," Sam said hurriedly. "Don't wait for me. You know what to do."

With that, the connection cut off. John sighed deeply. "Hell of a day."

Steven nodded in agreement. "Hell of a day. Let's see what we have to work with, Colonel."

* * *

As she lay in the infirmary bed, stealthily pinching off her IV drip with one hand, Jane Shepard began to doubt her initial theory.

Maybe she wasn't dealing with Reapers. As stupid as it might have sounded, it just wasn't their style. The Reapers were largely an unknown, but really seemed to be the beyond-understanding eldritch abomination type of operators. Not the psychological operations, sleight-of-hand type. She'd seen this kind of trick before, but in a much different playbook.

So if it wasn't a Reaper trick, what was it? Assuming that what she'd seen was real- at least in the sense that it wasn't in her head- that left few possibilities. The people she had dealt with made outlandish claims, but were clearly human. It didn't make sense for the Alliance to try any of this, and none of the individual human nations really had the resources or motives- at least, as far as she knew. Barring any new kid on the block, that left one chilling possibility.

Cerberus.

A human-supremacist shadow organization founded just after the First Contact War, Cerberus was a constant thorn in the side of the Alliance. Though their operations were highly secretive, the group was suspected to be behind several high-profile attacks and assassinations, and their resources and influence had been steadily growing in recent years. She still had a lot of questions, but it was possible that they were behind it.

What was that about eliminating the impossible? She had to find out who these people were and what they wanted. Reapers, Cerberus, whoever.

Jane waited for the right moment to take action. Usually, there was a doctor and a nurse in the infirmary, sometimes only one or the other. When she'd first woken up, there was no guard, but that had quickly changed, and usually two stood by the door. They were dressed like everyone else on the ship in late 20th/early 21st century garb, and she briefly wondered if the guns they carried were normal, real period pieces, or mockups.

Several hours after Daniel left - it was hard to keep track of time even once she'd cut off her own drugs- she got the opportunity she wanted. Only one guard was present, the other having left for dinner. The doctor had left for the night, meaning he wouldn't be back anytime soon, and the nurse looked like he was reaching his limit, yawning and almost nodding off at his desk.

"Excuse me, nurse," Jane croaked. He didn't hear, continuing to scribble down something- on paper, no less!- at his desk. Coughing, she repeated louder, "Nurse?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't..." the nurse excused, looking up. "Do you need something?"

"I'd really like some water," she requested, managing a thin smile.

"Sure, no problem." He put the paper aside and headed for a sink in the corner of the room.

Jane glanced around, checking her surroundings one last time. There was a security camera on the far wall, meaning once she made her move they'd be onto her. That was to be expected. The guard was a big guy who seemed to be serious enough, but carried himself like base security, not special forces or even a real soldier. He had a gun- maybe real, maybe not- holstered on one hip, a strange device on the other and a tactical vest full of god knows what.

"Here you go," the nurse offered, holding out a full paper cup toward her.

"Thanks." She took the offered drink and gulped it down. She'd seen him fill it, and these people already thought she was drugged. She really was thirsty and it couldn't hurt.

"You're-"

Before the nurse could finish his reply, she was onto him. With lightning speed, Jane swung her legs out and leaped out of the bed. She grabbed the nurse with her left arm around his neck, holding him tight as he screamed and struggled.

The guard began reaching for the device on his hip. Jane didn't give him the chance to grab it. She picked up the metal tray beside her bed and threw it hard. Scattering its contents across the compartment, it slammed into his chest, knocking the wind out of the man.

Jane dropped the nurse, throwing him forward and kicking him across the room. With a loud crash, he slammed into the cabinets on the other side head-first. She grabbed the IV stand, ripping the needle out of her arm in the process, and leapt forward toward the guard.

Her opponent was beginning to recover, but it was too slow. She swung the IV stand in a wide arc, driving its hard metal top into his skull and sending him crashing to the floor, unconscious. In under thirty seconds, the battle was over.

Commander Jane Shepard was a professional and didn't waste any time surveying the carnage or uttering witty one-liners. She stripped the guard, tossing aside her hospital gown and replacing it with his battle dress. It didn't fit at all, but hopefully would pass casual inspection. That included the gun, of course, but also the strange snakelike device and the tactical vest. She didn't have time to investigate further. He didn't have a hat, but there were a few elastic bands on the nurse's desk. It wouldn't help much with concealing her identity, but would at least keep the hair out of her face.

After a brief glance in the mirror, she tied the guard and the nurse together with her IV cord, then wedged them between two beds. Without any rope around, it was the best she could do. She drew the gun from its holster and checked it. Archaic, but real. She'd fired a similar one before in N7 training. Satisfied, she holstered the gun and pushed the infirmary door open.

Outside was a drab gray corridor that looked much like the infirmary. A woman in the same "USAF" flightsuit she'd seen Colonel Carter wearing strode past in the opposite direction. Jane offered a brief nod which was not reciprocated.

She needed to figure out where she was. Maybe they really were on a ship. Or it could be a space station, or on a planet somewhere. Escaping would be different for each one, and she could work from there once she knew. Without any indication of what went where, she picked a direction at random and started walking.

Jane moved purposefully and confidently, head held high. It was a counter-intuitive psychological trick. Trying to hide was the easiest way to give yourself up as an interloper. It was better to act like you belonged, and casual observers would just assume you did unless told otherwise.

She passed a few crew members without incident. If they realized she didn't belong, they sure didn't show it. Most likely, most the crew had no idea who she was, but security teams of some kind were quietly converging on her position. That's how she would do it, and she assumed these people were competent. She couldn't afford not to.

She also passed a few signs. One declared the place she was in as the _USS Odyssey_. One was a kind of directory, pointing out a few locations. She noted the general direction of engineering, the hangar and the flight deck (which oddly seemed to be at opposite ends of the ship), and continued on.

In a cramped side corridor, she got a lucky break. Two young men emerged from a pair of sliding doors, chatting animatedly. She spotted a glimpse of bright light behind it which cut off before the doors were finished closing.

An outside window.

Skitting past the duo, she headed to the door. It didn't open automatically- there was a switch beside it which she had to press. The doors slid open and she slid inside.

Like the rest of the ship- it was definitely a ship- the room was dull and grey. It was a storage room half-repurposed as a sort of lounge, with crates stacked against one wall and a very old, fabric couch in the middle. She suppressed a laugh at the site. Probably some supply officer's secret lair.

There was a window in the room, or at least a window frame. Finding the shutter control- a mechanical switch- she hammered it. The shutters slid upward on a track on the inside of the window, revealing the transparent material and space beyond.

Jane gasped at the sight.

She'd been expecting to see open space, maybe a planet or a nebula. Perhaps the refracted, red-shifted view of FTL flight. She had not expected to see the swirling blue tunnel they appeared to be traveling through, unlike anything she'd ever seen before.

"It's a hell of a view, isn't it?" a voice asked from behind her.

She whirled around, drawing her gun and raising it at the dark-haired man entering the room. Like the rest of the _Odyssey_ 's crew, he wore a green flight suit adorned with various anachronistic patches. "Stay back."

The man raised his hands in surrender, stepping back a pace. "Whoa! Why don't you just put the gun down, and we can talk this out?"

"Sure, we can talk." She kept the gun raised, pointing to the view behind her with her other hand. "Who the hell are you? And what the hell is that?"

"Colonel Cameron Mitchell, United States Air Force," he introduced, staying by the door. "And that is hyperspace."

"Hyperspace?" she asked, voice skeptical.

"It's how we get around the galaxy," Cameron answered. "You'd have to ask Sam how it works. I don't understand the half of it. It's another layer of space that let's us go really fast."

"You don't use the Relays." It was more a statement than a question.

He smiled a bit at that. "Yeah, I don't even know what those are. There's a good chance we don't even have them where we come from."

She glanced back at the window, keeping the gun trained on her guest. "Where are you going?"

"Earth."

She cocked the hammer. "Like hell you are."

"We're just taking a look around," Cameron insisted. "Earth is our homeworld, you know that. We want to take a look around and see how different it is so we know what we're dealing with. Look, we're not that different, and I'm sure your people would do the same thing. We are not trying to start a war here. Hell, we're trying to _avoid_ it."

Just because she didn't believe this was a Reaper trick didn't mean she believed a word he said. "Who are you people?"

Before he could answer, a thump reverberated throughout the ship and the blue tunnel outside glowed bright before dissipating to reveal a field of stars. In the corner of the window, a few bright circles were visible, and it glared brightly from a star they couldn't quite see.

Cameron pointed at one of circles. He said softly, "I think that one's Earth."

Jane ran the numbers in her head. She couldn't have been out more than a day or two. The _Normandy_ could do about sixteen light-years per day, with Reapers estimated at twice that. She smirked. "No. It's too far away."

"That's Earth," the Colonel insisted. "Barely a day's journey. Odyssey's the fastest ship in the fleet. She's got a ZPM, and the Asgard did a few tweaks the other 304s don't have."

"A what- the fuck?"

"Look, you're lost and confused and you think I'm the enemy. Okay, fine. I can't blame you. But the way I see it, we can do one of two things," Cameron urged, voice more forceful this time. "You probably already have a way to get out of here, and maybe it'll even work. And if you were really sure I was bullshitting you, you would have pulled that trigger already. But you think maybe I'm not. Which leads us to option two. Let's talk."

He was right. She had a strategy. Rush forward, put the gun in this guy's back and use him as a hostage. A ship this size had to have some shuttles somewhere, and given what she'd seen so far she could probably fly one well enough to escape. They were out of FTL near Earth, making this a near-perfect window of opportunity.

But then what? What if he was telling the truth? She would be throwing away what could be their best shot against the Reapers.

Slowly, she lowered the pistol. "Let's talk."

"Glad to hear it," Cameron said with a smile. He turned to the doorway behind him. "Teal'c, Vala, you can come out now. And not with guns blazing."

"Aww," an accented woman's voice said, disappointing. A black-haired woman stepped through the doorway. In one hand she held a snake-like device like the one on Jane's hip.

So that's what that was for. She had a lot of questions about that one.

A tall, muscular man with a golden tattoo on his head stepped into the room behind her. Unlike Cameron's casual but alert demeanor or the woman's bouncyness, he was clearly a disciplined warrior and made no attempt to hide it.

She began to laugh. Of course this man had backup. He wasn't stupid, he was a professional. He had a team, they seemed alright. Whoever they were, they were at least halfassed normal, and she could work with that.

Cameron motioned them toward the doorway. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

"Our guest decided she'd rather talk then fight," Colonel Mitchell excused, practically pushing their guest into the conference room following close behind. He'd relieved her of the tactical vest and weapons, but she was still wearing the ill-fitting BDUs.

"Sorry about your crewmembers, Colonel," Jane apologized, meeting Sam's stern stare. "I believed I was being held by a hostile force and took the necessary actions to escape. I don't regret doing that knowing what I did at the time, but I will apologize for it in retrospect."

"I understand, Commander," Sam replied firmly, glancing up to meet her gaze. The commander was a head taller than her. She briefly wondered if that was normal for 22nd century humans in this reality. The commander exuded the air of a soldier as well as a captain, and Sam was already beginning to make a few guesses about her background. "I'm not happy about what you did- you gave two of my men concussions- but I can't say I would have acted that differently in your position."

She nodded in reply and sat down between Cam and Teal'c. "With that being said, I have a lot of questions."

"What are you?" Vala interrupted. Instead of taking a seat, she was leaning on the back of Daniel's.

"I'm human," Jane replied with a snort. "If I may ask, what the hell are you?"

"I'm Vala, Vala Mal Doran," she replied, feigning obliviousness.

Sam redirected the conversation slightly. "I think she was asking about your background, Commander."

"I'm an N7," she replied quickly. Seeing the bemused looks on everyone's faces, she explained, "Naval special forces. Like your- what would they be in the twenty-first century-"

"Navy SEALs?" Cam suggested.

Jane nodded. "Kind of, but less underwater demolition and more zero-g combat."

He leaned over and whispered to Teal'c, "That sounds kind of cool."

The stoic Jaffa nodded a noncommittal reply.

"I'm trusting you for the time being, but I really want to know, who are you people?" Jane asked pointedly, leaning forward on the table. "Am I supposed to believe you're really from an alternate reality?"

"Yes," Sam answered. Their guest was reasonable, as far as they could tell, so she appealed to reason. "Think about what you've seen, Commander. You expressed skepticism about this ship's capabilities, which indicates to me that your technology is not at all similar to ours. We also have very different ideas about our history, and I can't think of what I could gain by misleading you on that."

"Then how did you get here?" she asked immediately.

"We're not exactly sure," Daniel answered.

"We were trying a new drive system using wormholes," Sam elaborated. She cringed. "It malfunctioned with catastrophic results."

Jane chewed her lip for a moment before sighing. "Okay."

"Okay?"

She shrugged. "Okay. You're from an alternate reality. It's way the fuck out there, but it does sort of make sense in its own twisted way. And if you were trying to get something out of me, this is a stupid way of doing it. So I believe you, at least for now."

"I guess that's all we can ask for. All things considered, you're taking this remarkably well," Daniel noted.

Jane cracked a thin smile. "You would not _believe_ the impossible shit I've been through."

"Like?"

She shook her head. "Later."

Vala clapped her hands together. "So, what now? Are we all friends?"

"Sure," Jane said before turning to Sam. "Colonel, I need to contact my superiors as soon as possible."

"We can't let you do that," Cam objected.

She glared at him. "Excuse me?"

"What Colonel Mitchell is saying is that we're not ready to make contact with your authorities yet," Sam repeated, more diplomatically. "We're new to this galaxy. We don't know who we can trust, what's safe and what's dangerous, who we can talk to and who's lying. Respectfully, Commander, we don't even know what your intentions are."

"I understand you want to play it safe, Colonel, and I respect that," Jane admitted. She paused, briefly evaluating her strategy. "But I can't say I like it. Look, if you're going to be here a while, you're going to need friends. The Alliance is your best bet. I have connections and I can help with that. Or am I your prisoner now?"

"Think of yourself more as a guest," Daniel suggested.

Jane laughed out loud at that. "I think I know what the difference is, Doctor Jackson."

"Yeah, I know, it kind of sucks," he allowed. "I've been there before."

"We're heading back to Atlantis and figure out our next move," Sam stated assertively. She told Jane, "You're welcome to join us when we beam down. We met some of your people and they'll be waiting there."

"Atlantis?" Jane asked. "You named a ship Atlantis? I don't know if your version of the legend is different, but in ours, that city kinda disappeared."

"Actually, it was sunk on purpose," Vala pointed out. Noticing her teammates giving her a nasty look, she added, "What? She was bound to find out anyway, it's pretty obvious."

"It's a city, not a ship- well, it's a city-ship," Cam explained. He motioned dismissively. "It's a really long story, and I'm not the one to tell it. I'll let Sheppard do it."

"You're going to let me do what?"

"No, not you," he corrected. "Sorry. Colonel John Sheppard, commander of the Atlantis base. I'm sure he'd love to show you around. You seem like his type."

She raised an eyebrow. "His type?"

"Dominant," the black-haired woman stated flatly.

Daniel coughed loudly. "Vala!"

"What? There's nothing wrong with a man who prefers women who are forceful and assertive," Vala continued, seemingly oblivious. "I understand that's common for your planet. Certainly it's common, even the norm on various other planets."

"Wait, wait, wait, is she human?" Jane asked, pointing at Vala. The fact that she'd used the words "your planet" from a time supposedly before colonies bothered her more than the highly suggestive comments.

"Of course I am!" she huffed indignantly. "Can't you tell?"

"Ah, I think I mentioned this before," Daniel interrupted. "Humans originated from Earth- sort of- but were taken as slaves by a race called the goa'uld and spread throughout the galaxy. Vala is human but she's not from Earth."

Sam was about to interrupt when she felt a slight lurch beneath her feet. She could tell by feel alone that they'd dropped out of hyperspace, and silently thanked the universe for the almost-fortuitous timing. Standing up, she told everyone, "We should be getting close. Come on. Atlantis is waiting."

* * *

Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau sighed as he hobbled his way into a small office tucked into the corner of the _New York_ 's crew deck. The doctor didn't want to clear him even for this, but the captain had pushed and she had reluctantly acquiesced. Every step hurt, but he'd refused a wheelchair or a stretcher.

Damn the Vrolik's Syndrome. Damn the Reapers. Damn the Council. And damn the spook he had to talk to. Just damn everything all to hell.

"Lieutenant Commander Derek Zabala, Alliance Intelligence," the man introduced, standing as he entered. Zabala was a broad-shouldered man, with dark eyes that glanced to the side before boring into his soul. He was the kind of person that made you feel uneasy without being able to place why. In other words, a typical spy.

"Sir," the Lieutenant replied flatly. Briefly, he wondered why an Intelligence officer was aboard the _New York_. Maybe Shepard's status had something to do with it, maybe he showed up after, or maybe it was just a coincidence.

Or a set-up.

"Please, sit down," Zabala said, motioning to an open chair. He tried to sound friendly, but- no, it wasn't working. "I want to know what you saw, as you saw it."

"Sorry if I'm a little suspicious," Joker half-apologized. Maybe it was the drugs, but he didn't particularly care about respect at the moment. "You're giving me that classic 'has his own super secret agenda' vibe. Sir."

"Well, I can't guarantee that nobody up the line has one of those, but my job is to just find out what you know and pass it along," Zabala reminded him. "Despite what you may think, we're on the same side, so don't make this harder than it has to be."

"Fine."

"Let's start at the beginning. You were on a mission to hunt for Geth. The Normandy dropped out in the Amada system and entered orbit around Alchera. What happened?"

The pilot sighed before beginning his explanation. He started, as prompted, with them dropping out of FTL. All readings were in the green, and he began their initial orbit burn. Then, suddenly, an unknown contact- a Reaper or someone under their control, he figured- and attacked them without warning. Within minutes, the ship was lost. He doggedly fought to keep control before Commander Shepard literally hauled him out of his seat and into an escape pod. She was about to get in with him when another beam hit the Normandy, knocking her away with barely enough time to eject the pod behind her. Then, suddenly, the Commander disappeared in a flash of light.

Commander Zabala kept his expression neutral. He was unreadable when he chose to be, something that frustrated Joker to no end. "I see."

Joker leaned back in the chair, wincing inwardly as the shift sent a jolt of pain through his bruised body. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"Mister Moreau, my job is to gather information and to pass it up toward those who can interpret it," Zabala said carefully. "I believe you saw what you claimed. Whether your conclusions are correct is another matter." He paused in thought. "What I can say is that something strange is happening out there."

He couldn't resist throwing a jab in. "Yeah, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Sir."


	4. Chapter 4

Honestly, this is probably the weakest chapter so far. I'm expecting the next one to be the strongest, but this one is kind of necessary filler. It was very difficult to write and took me the better part of a month.

* * *

 **4: Waiting**

Teyla sighed as she rocked her child back and forth in her arms. Torren was a beautiful child and the shining star of her life, but he could be a handful sometimes. She felt like she hadn't got a full night's rest in months. Part of that was her own doing, she knew, as much as she hated to admit it. Seemingly half the city wanted to step up to help with Torren, but more often than not she doggedly resisted.

For a brief moment, it had appeared they would soon be home, back with Kanaan and the rest of her people. When Atlantis returned to the Pegasus Galaxy, she would be able to return to New Athos regardless of the success of the mission itself. Now it seemed they were farther away than ever.

"How's he doing?" a voice asked from the open doorway.

"Torren is restless," Teyla admitted, managing a slight smile. "I think he wants to get back to Pegasus even more than we do."

"We'll get home," John assured her, still langering in the doorway. "When Rodney says it's impossible, it just means it's going to take a while."

She motioned him inside, and he hesitated before stepping into the room and sitting across from the Athosian woman.

"Would you like to hold Torren?" Teyla offered.

"Sure," John answered, reaching for the cloth-wrapped child and snuggling him tightly into his arms. He said to Teyla, "You know I love the little guy."

A look of concern crossed Teyla's face, and he mentally kicked himself.

"Hey," John said as Torren cooed and smiled at him. He told the baby, "Your father's not here right now, but he loves you very much. He's very far away right now, but you'll be together soon."

"If you are concerned about being too close to Torren, you need not worry," Teyla assuaged with a smile. "It is sadly all too common for Athosian children to be raised by relatives, close friends, or even the entire village. I recall many a night caring for Jinto after his mother was taken."

"I just don't know if I'm such a good influence," John excused lamely. As he handed Torren back to his mother, he remarked, "He's a great little guy, though."

"Do not undersell yourself, John," Teyla warned quietly. "I can think of no one here I would rather have in his life."

John couldn't help but smirk. "Don't tell Ronon that."

"Ronon is very headstrong, and can often be rather direct," Teyla stated. "Still, if Torren can learn even half his tenacity..."

"You're talking like we'll never get back to Pegasus and Kanaan," John said seriously. It came out as much a question as a statement.

"John, I have been away from home for months already," Teyla reminded him. For John, Atlantis itself was home enough, but for her, it was Pegasus. "Forgive me if my faith is beginning to waver."

"We'll get back," John repeated. There were a million things he wanted to say, but he could never figure out how to say them, so with that he turned and left.

* * *

"I hate these things," Colonel John Sheppard muttered to himself, stepping into the upper conference room.

His department heads and a few other senior staff were present. He knew exactly how each of them felt without even looking- well, almost all of them. Evan Lorne was stoic but inwardly concerned, Rodney McKay was in a high-efficiency panic, Radek Zelenka was more annoyed by Rodney than anything, Jennifer Keller was visibly nervous, Carson Beckett was less visibly nervous. Dr. Robinson and Lt. Winston he wasn't as familiar with, though they both looked concerned.

He stood behind Elizabeth's chair- his chair now- and asked, "How are we doing?"

A chorus of noise answered, with half the room trying to answer his question, and he held up a hand for silence. "One at a time please. Zelenka, power?"

"One ZPM is totally dead," Rodney answered, cutting off his associate. "The other two are partially drained. Maybe half full, maybe a little more. We're running off the naquadah generators for now and keeping the ZPMs in reserve."

He nodded. That wasn't good, but they'd had worse. The first year they'd been there, they would have killed for one half-full ZPM, let alone two. "How are the repairs going?"

"It's been a few hours!" Rodney protested.

Zelenka answered for him. "We can raise the shield without anything exploding, but we are nowhere near a hundred percent."

"Lieutenant Winston, how's our supply situation?" John asked, glancing toward his supply officer.

"Sir, the city is well stocked with tools, scientific equipment, and other essentials. As I understand it, most of it was never removed during our time on Earth," he answered, slightly unsure. "Food, sir, is the limiting factor, and we're going to run out quick."

"How quick?"

"I'll have to do a full inventory, but my best guess is three months. Maybe we can stretch it to four."

He exhaled deeply. Part of him wanted to think it was fine, that Rodney would get them back in a few days, but part of him realized that it was different this time- he could read it in the scientist- and they could be stuck here for much longer than that. In his position, he couldn't afford to assume the former. "I thought we had a year's supply?"

"We did, sir, when we landed on Earth," the Lieutenant answered apologetically. "When the IOA made the decision to decommission the city, they started moving supplies out right away. That, sir, started with perishables, including food."

"And when they reversed that decision, they didn't put it all back, and only gave us the bare minimum." John sighed. Reluctantly, he moved on. "Medical supplies?"

Jennifer answered first. "They hadn't got to those yet. We're stocked up pretty well, but short-staffed. If something bad happens and we end up with a lot of casualties, we could end up overwhelmed."

He turned to their psychologist. "Doctor Robinson, how are our people doing?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared, and I'm not the only one who's feeling it," she answered carefully. "The enormity of our situation is starting to sink in. Another universe feels a lot farther away than another galaxy. Most of us were mentally prepared for a short trip to familiar territory, not the long haul in a strange land."

"Okay." John paused, chewing his lip. It wasn't the first time he'd been in command of the city, but it was the first time he was assigned to it rather than it ending up falling to him, and now he was playing expedition leader an impossibly far distance away.

"So, now what?" Rodney asked, voice snippy.

"I want you to find us a way back," Sheppard ordered.

"What? Weren't you listening? That could take a really long time!" the scientist protested.

"Which is why you should get started now," he shot back before continuing. "Zelenka, get the city fixed. Lieutenant Winston, I want you to figure out exactly how long we have. Major Lorne, start searching the city for anything we can use. I doubt there are any Ancient granerys we haven't found, but you never know. We'll coordinate with our ships and SG-1 and try to find out more about this galaxy, who we can trust and who we can't."

"It's a plan, sir," Lorne echoed positively.

A tinny voice buzzed in John's ear, interrupting him before he could reply. "Colonel Sheppard, the Odyssey just arrived in orbit and is hailing us."

"Speak of the devil," John muttered. He answered, "Put them on."

"Atlantis Base, this is the Odyssey," Sam's voice announced. "Requesting permission to beam down with a special guest. We have a lot to discuss."

"Odyssey, this is Atlantis Base," he replied. "Welcome back. Feel free to beam down when you're ready."

* * *

A few minutes later, five familiar and one unfamiliar figure appeared in the gateroom, the familiar flash of light and chime-like sound indicating their arrival.

The unfamiliar figure, a tall red-haired woman in ill-fitting fatigues, quickly wiped a shocked look off her face and asked, "Was that a-"

"Transporter, yes," John confirmed, stepping down the stairs into the gateroom. "Colonel John Sheppard. You must be our mystery guest. Welcome to Atlantis."

She suppressed a smirk at that, briefly glancing around before replying. "Commander Jane Shepard, Systems Alliance Navy. Nice place you have, Colonel."

"Well, it was basically all here when we got it. We just did a little repainting, hung up a few posters," John joked. He turned to the rest of the group and motioned to the side hall. "I assume you want to meet our guests?"

* * *

Jiahao drummed his fingers on the table. He sighed before leaning back in his chair and stated simply, "I'm bored."

Sara turned and replied, slightly irritated. "You said that already."

"And you've been standing in front of that window for hours-"

"It has a view, Jiahao!" Sara exclaimed, waving with one arm. "Look at this place, it's amazing!"

"Doesn't look that special," he dismissed before clarifying, "Tech's impressive, sure. View is only okay."

"This city _flew_ ," she expounded. "I mean, it had to. We were investigating an impact event before we saw the blip. It's what, maybe three-quarters the size of the Presidium ring? Yet capable of atmospheric entry. As far as I can tell, this building isn't sealed against vacuum. That means all these buildings have barriers. And if they're telling the truth, this city is capable of intergalactic flight!"

Jiahao harrumphed. "I'll believe it when I see- Commander Shepard?"

"When you see..." Sara trailed off as she turned and saw the woman stepping into the room, along with John and four people in similar uniforms. Idly, she smoothed out her jumpsuit. "Oh. Hello. I'm Sara Nikolayeva, doctor of-"

"Commander, please excuse her," Jiahao said quickly, standing at attention. "Staff Lieutenant Jiahao Wójcik, Alliance Marines, retired. It's an-"

"Wait, you know her?" John interrupted, pointing between them.

"Well, by reputation," Jiahao clarified, irritated. "The Lion of Elysium. The Hero of the Citadel."

"Don't tell me you're some kind of local celebrity?" one of the new arrivals asked, a slight Southern accent in his voice.

"Local?" Jiahao scoffed, almost "She's a _galactic_ hero. The first human spectre, one of the handful of people who shaped our place in the galaxy!"

John cleared his throat. "As much as I love this hero worshipping, I don't believe you've been introduced. Colonel Carter, commander of the _Odyssey_. Colonel Mitchell, Doctor Daniel Jackson, Vala Mal Doran and Teal'c. These are our guests, Doctor Sara Nikolayeva-"

"I heard your names on the way in," Vala interrupted.

"Vala!" Daniel snapped.

"We have a few questions we'd like to ask," Carter began, sitting down across from their guests. In truth, just watching them meet would probably tell them more than they would get out of them. "I assume you're already aware of our general situation."

"You're from another universe," Jiahao repeated, voice full of skepticism. "Forgive me if I'm-"

"I believe them."

All eyes turned to face the Commander, most of them shocked at her firm declaration.

"I believe them," she repeated. "They explained it to me, and from what I've seen, they couldn't have come from anywhere else. I've went over the alternatives, they don't make sense. As crazy as it sounds, we really are dealing with an alternate reality."

"So, what now?" Jiahao asked.

"Our plan is to get home as soon as possible," John answered. He glanced at Sam. "But that could take a while."

"They're hoping we can show them the neighbourhood," Jane preempted. "Do you have a contact package?"

Jiahao shook his head.

"Well, sort of," Sara dissented. "I can load one onto a datapad from what I've got on my omni-tool."

"It's an information package, just basic stuff about us and the galaxy," Jane explained to the others. "Probably a lot like what you have. Golden Record was about your time, right? Like that, but a lot more advanced. Are you okay with that?"

Carter nodded. "That's great."

Vala held out one of the Atlantis-issue computers, a brand-new Thinkpad X201T. "You can put that on here?"

"Not that. That's a museum piece- no offense," Sara answered, shaking her head. "I'll need to grab one of our datapads from the shuttle."

"I'll get Major Lorne to bring you guys out there," John told them, standing and motioning to the door. "Quarters should be ready by the time you get back."

"Great!" Sara exclaimed. She not-so-quietly whispered to Jiahao, "This is amazing! These people are weird, but look at what they've done."

"You know we can hear you, right?" Mitchell mentioned from the other end of the table.

"Oh, sorry!" Sara excused. "No offense."

"It's okay, this is actually a pretty good first contact so far," John said with a smile. He nodded toward their last guest, still in her seat. "Commander?"

She understood the meaning, standing and following the others out. At the last minute, she paused at the door. "I understand you have your reasons and I have mine. But I don't like being cut out, Colonel."

* * *

Director Pablo Carpenter leaned back in his flimsy metal chair. His terminal was open on the prefabricated polymer desk in front of him. He tented his fingers and tried his best to appear deeply contemplative.

Though he was deep in thought, he was anything but calm. On the best of days, director of the Abunda colony was a stressful job. There was the day-to-day shuffling of resources that always seemed short, a smattering of profiteers, smugglers, and thieves, and- thankfully only once- a pirate raid. He knew before he'd taken it that it would be far different from his mostly-bureaucratic former position on Bekenstein, and on most days he managed, but... some were worse than others.

Ultimately, everything that happened on the colony ended up back at him. Perhaps it wasn't the healthiest position to take, but it was one of the principles he stuck to. His father was a wet-navy captain, and the meaning of responsibility was drilled into him from an early age.

"They should be back by now," a stern female voice reminded him, coming up behind his desk.

Lorna Aliyev could be a handful, but she was smarter than she let on, and her militia had saved the colony, so the notoriously strait-laced director was inclined to cut her some slack. He turned his chair to face the dark-haired woman. "It's a survey shuttle. Surveying can take a while."

She hopped up and sat on the desk, right on top of a stack of datapads. "Come on, Pabs. Ji would've checked in, he's got a book shoved so far up his ass he can taste it. Something's happened out there. Maybe they're splattered across the ocean, or maybe that wasn't a meteor."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying we're dealing with a new alien race?"

"I don't know," Lorna said. "We sent out what amounts to our science team, and now, poof, they're gone. Could just be a freak accident, sure. Could be ET. Grey goo. Liria storms. Whatever _it_ is, we shouldn't be dealing with it. We need to call the Alliance, Pabs."

He sighed. "I know."

Softly, she implored, "Then make the call."

* * *

"How long have you worked with Colonel Sheppard, Major?" Jane asked, following her escort down the hallways of the city. They'd swung by the shuttle- using the transporter again- grabbed what they needed, and now were headed back to the main tower. Sara and Jiahao were behind her, followed by a Sergeant who was doing a bad job of appearing non-threatening.

She had to admit the place was impressive. It had an odd look to it, with a classic charm and futuristic feel at the same time. But it was pleasant and inviting rather than dull and sterile, and almost seemed to be calling to her. The city looked like a city, and if she hadn't known better she never would have guessed it could fly. Arcology, sure. City-ship, no.

"About four years, give or take," Major Lorne answered. "He was here from the very beginning, I came on later."

"How is he?"

"I'll admit he's got his quirks, but we live on the edge and he's the kind of officer we need here," he half-answered, unsure of how much he should give away.

She nodded in understanding. "I know that feeling. Good CO?"

"Best I've had." He cracked a smile, then waved his hand over a panel on the wall. A door opened, revealing large but mostly empty quarters that clashed with the generally lavish city.

As she stepped inside, Jane asked, "How long will we be here?"

"We're kinda playing it by ear right now," Lorne admitted. "You can use the panel on the wall if you need something. Someone will be down to show you to breakfast... might be dinner. We're still trying to figure that out. This kind of thing isn't normal, even for us."

"So, what is?" she baited with a raised eyebrow.

"Another time, Commander," Lorne dodged. "Enjoy your stay."

* * *

"The Citadel Council is an executive committee composed of representatives from the Asari Republics, the Turian Hierarchy, the Salarian Union, and the Systems Alliance," Sam read from the tablet in her hand.

"Sounds fancy," John quipped. Idly, he reached forward for the coffee cup on his desk, only to find it empty.

"If I'm reading this right, humanity- the Systems Alliance- only became a member recently," Steven mentioned. "The details are light, but there's something about a Battle of the Citadel and a Geth attack."

John snapped his fingers. "Hold on, our guests mentioned that Jane is the 'Hero of the Citadel' and the 'first human spectre'. She isn't the linchpin of all that, is she?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Jane? We're on a first name basis now?"

"Well, I can't call her Shepard, that would be confusing," Sheppard stated.

Eager to move on, Sam pointed out, "Jack O'Neill made quite the impression on more than a few alien races. It's possible the Commander did the same thing."

"Provided it's not an elaborate set-up."

Sam shook her head. "I don't think so, Steven. They're figuring things out as they go, same as we are."

"So, we have three main races besides us," John repeated, bringing the conversation back on track. "Each one seems to wear their own hat. The asari are the old, peaceful ones... and all-female, huh. Salarians are the smart, quick ones. Turians are the warhawks."

"Keep in mind this was written by humans. It might not be an exactly balanced account," the Daedalus commander opined.

"At least they're a stable galactic government," Sam argued. "The last war was when they made contact with humanity, and it was barely a skirmish. That's a pretty impressive achievement in and of itself."

He crossed his arms. "It also means they're going to be all that more dangerous if they turn against us."

"Okay, so, Council's a mixed bag," John said, gesturing with a tilted hand. "What about everyone else? What do you think of the... quarians?"

Steven immediately answered. "They made a big mistake. I'm not saying they deserve to wander the proverbial desert- nobody deserves that- but they made a stupid choice and it came back to bite them in a big way."

Sam glanced down at her tablet. "Yeah. The geth aren't Replicators, but they're not good news. I mean, the last time they showed up they devastated the galactic capital."

"Should we get eyes on them?" he asked.

She pursed her lips. "Maybe. It could be risky."

"Batarians?" John asked. "Kind of funny looking, aren't they? Not funny guys, though."

"I doubt they're all bad, and the situation is probably a lot more complicated than this says," she replied, tapping her tablet. "Still, probably best we give them a wide berth."

"They're a rogue state right now. That's dangerous," Steven concurred. "Krogan?"

John sucked in a deep breath. "Even wider berth. Fortunately for us, they don't seem have much in the way of organization. No organized fleet to go after us."

"Let's go back to the Systems Alliance," Steven suggested. "Sam, what did you get from your pass on Earth?"

She shook her head. "Strong encryption is ubquitous, and surface scans can only reveal so much. High population, lots of space assets, but most of our data is on their technology. I've got Rodney looking at that already."

"Who's going to be our friends?" John asked quietly.

"It will probably end being the Alliance. They have a presence on this world and strictly speaking, we've already made contact." She shrugged. "Honestly it may be an inevitability at this point, and there are worse choices."

"Could be better ones," Steven pointed out. "As much as I'd like to trust this Earth, they could be feeding false information. They could be the bad guys."

"We don't have to make that choice yet."

"Yet."

* * *

To call his colleague's behavior irritating was an understatement. Radek Zelenka swore under his breath in Czech before asking, in a slightly more polite tone, "Why are you laughing, Rodney?"

In his usual manner, Rodney replied as if the answer was obvious, "Their technology is a joke!"

"I think that's rather unfair, do you not?" Radek countered. "Genetic engineering is commonplace, most energy is from fusion. FTL, artificial gravity, antimatter thrusters. Artificial intelligence is outlawed but the way this is written it seems possible."

"Their FTL is _fourteen light-years per day,_ " Rodney shot back. "Their ships are hugely inefficient for the kind of capabilities. Fake shields, weak weapons, and they need the Mass Relays for any sort of long trip. We could take on one of their dreadnoughts with a puddlejumper."

"I think that is an exaggeration."

"Not as much as it should be."

"Admit it, Rodney, you don't want to admit that they are two hundred years ahead of where we should be," Radek stated harshly. "If we had not discovered the Stargate, if we had not met the Goa'uld and the Asgard, if we had not discovered Atlantis, perhaps this is where we would be, or worse. For lack of better word, our tech _is_ stolen."

"So? They stole theirs, too!" the irate scientist snapped. "Oh, don't look so surprised. It was right there in the package."

Radek had an inkling of what he was getting at, but in a spur-of-the-moment decision decided to play dumb. "I mean, it didn't state that-"

"Read between the lines, Radek!" he elaborated. "Prothean relics this, Mass Relays that, alien meddling there. They literally just found the Citadel lying there. If we're thieves, so are they."

"Some of our most powerful technology was literally given to us," Radek contrasted. "They found a smattering of ancient ruins but very little in the way of functional technology. The Mass Relays and the Citadel are the exception, not the rule."

"So you're saying they're better than us?" he spat.

Radek was taken aback by the insecurity evident in the man's voice. "I'm just saying that considering the context in which these civilizations evolved, there is no reason to demean their technological base, even- no, especially because of the difference in context."

"Did I mention they practically had a cheat code," Rodney continued, going back to smug after a moment of weakness. "This 'Element Zero' doesn't even exist in our universe."

"Actually, that's not strictly true," Zelenka pointed out.

He looked up from his tablet for the first time in their conversation. "What?"

"While you were laughing at the primitive locals, I was searching Atlantis database for points of comparison," he answered matter-of-factly. "In some point in the past, the Ancients, they experimented with bombarding various elements with exotic radiation. One of the results was stable material, with properties exactly as Element Zero. Of course, small quantities, created with a lot of difficulty."

"The difference is that it exists naturally here, for some reason," Rodney immediately surmised, snapping his fingers. "Or was created in the distant past by some now-extinct race, all over the galaxy. And that changed everything... except, all things being equal, there should be Stargates and there should be Ancients."

"Unless, in the past, someone else rose up with this technological base and destroyed them," Radek theorized. "Or for the same reasons this element exists, it changed the conditions enough for the Ancient civilization as we know to not rise in the first place. Such as if there was-"

"No naquadah," Rodney suggested. His face fell he hurriedly went back to his tablet. "No naquadah?"

"What do you mean, no naquadah?" Radek asked, now panicking slightly.

"Of all the scans we made of this planet and everything on the way here, we never detected any naquadah," Rodney summarized. "None. I mean, it's possible that where we scanned just happened not to have any, but we should have at least found traces somewhere."

"That is worrying," Radek reluctantly admitted. "If we get stuck-"

"No, no, we won't get stuck here."

* * *

"Ugh, I thought this would be exciting," Vala Mal Doran complained, hopping up and sitting on the desk. "I was hoping we'd get to see another galaxy and all the weird and wonderful things in it. Not sit around in a stuffy office all day- what are you doing?"

"Reading up on this universe," Daniel Jackson answered, eyes scanning the screen of his tablet as he scribbled away in a notebook beside it. "When life give you lemons, make lemonade."

"Why would I make lemonade?" she asked, confused. "Why not just sell the lemons?"

"It's an expression. That's not what it means. It means-"

"Don't take advantage of an opportunity? Clearly they're not seeing the arbitrage potential here."

"You know, you don't have to be here," Daniel pointed out. He reached forward, grabbing a book from the edge of the table before Vala could grab it. "Atlantis is a big place. I know we didn't see a lot last time and you could explore it a bit."

"Half of it is shut down to save power, the other half is off-limits," Vala moaned. "They said something about search parties but they're still trying to get those organized. I said I could find treasure on my own and the little angry man said something about exploding tumours."

"Yeah, that would be bad," he muttered, going back to the tablet in his hands.

Vala reached down and snatched it out of his hands. "What's this?"

He folded his arms. "Well, I _was_ skimming some notes on the current state of galactic affairs before you interrupted."

She glanced at the screen, then back up. "Which is?"

"The Systems Alliance," Daniel began. "Earth and her colonies, in this universe. An independent supranational government representing the interests of humanity as a whole. It's not quite a world government, but humanity is more or less united here."

She raised an eyebrow, sensing his unease. "But?"

"Frankly all of it seems rather optimistic, and it has me wondering if there are divides that run deeper than they let on," he answered. "Then again, we've faced a lot of enemies that are more or less human. This time, it's humanity against aliens, and that's a powerful force to unite people."

"What about the aliens?" Vala asked. She took another look at the tablet

"Everyone gets along, except when they don't. The occasional diplomatic spat or border skirmish, but no big war in years," he expounded. "Frankly it feels kind of like what Earth was like in our time, just a lot bigger. Again, I'm wondering what they're not telling us."

She nodded in agreement. "For all we know, this could all be a lie. Or at least a gross, gross exaggeration."

"Yeah. Cynicism aside, what interests me more is the Protheans," Daniel continued, ignoring her. "I mean, constants and variables. They're definitely not our Ancients, but their role is strangely analogous. An extinct precursor race that left a network of gateways behind, that all the younger races built their technology around."

"Do you think it's a coincidence or that it's somehow connected?" Vala asked.

"They're definitely not connected, no," he clarified. "I just found it interesting. I mean, maybe on a multiversal scale it's a common cycle. One race rises up, builds a galaxy-spanning empire, then something wipes them out and a younger race finds it and builds their own around it."

"Hmm..."

"But with what we know, all we can to is speculate- you're not listening, are you?" Daniel put the tablet down and glared at Vala.

"Sort of," she admitted, picking up the tablet and scrolling through it. " _Omega is a major hub of narcotics, weapons, and eezo trafficking without even a pretense of civilian government or military control._ Ooh, can we go?"

"It looks like a good place to pick up tetanus and a gunshot wound," Daniel argued, taking the tablet back. "We are _not_ going to Omega."

"Killjoy," Vala complained. She hopped off the desk. "I'm going to go bother Cameron."

"You do that," he muttered before going back to his tablet.

* * *

"Not the best food I've had, but it's not bad," Jiahao commented, shoveling a chunk of mystery meat into his mouth. "Why aren't you eating?"

Sara poked her meal around with a plastic fork. "It's just that... I saw a butter packet like this in a museum. I know it's not, but I keep thinking everything is very old."

"Seems fresh enough," he countered. "Commander, what do you think?"

 _I'm at the dinner table in an interdimensional city, and people still want my opinion on the most trivial shit._ She sighed, pausing in her consumption of a fruit cup. "Think of it as a reproduction. Old-style, but not old. Besides, two centuries out of date or not, I've had worse."

"I meant the city, Commander."

"They're on the level," she answered honestly, switching to a packaged roll. "I'm still trying to figure out how we fit into it, but they just want to go home. Problem is, I don't think that's as easy as they thought it would be."

"We're talking inter-universal travel!" Sara pointed out. "That's not easy or even hard, we thought it was impossible. I mean, just the kind of energy involved is staggering by our most optimistic calculations..."

As she trailed off, Jiahao asked, "What is it?"

"I'm wondering what's powering this city," she explained.

Jane inquired, "Big energy requirements?"

The scientist nodded. "Huge. There was this paper on intergalactic travel maybe a year ago. Okay, so they said this city was found in the Pegasus Galaxy. I know of three Pegasus Galaxies, which are all about two or three million light-years away. Close enough to Andromeda, which is what the paper I read focused on. They would have had to run a drive for five hundred years-"

"I don't think it took them that long," Jiahao pointed out. "It sounded like the people we talked to are the ones that discovered this city."

She nodded again. "Right, but that just makes it all that more impressive. Assuming the same efficiency numbers, the requirements would be the same. The thing is, you start to hit diminishing returns, and the power requirements go up exponentially. If they wanted to go fast, they'd need an incredible amount of power."

"Hold on," Jane interrupted. "Colonel Mitchell mentioned something called hyperspace that their starship flies through. It could be by definition more efficient than our own drive systems."

"Right!" Sara acknowledged. "If they're using something else, that would throw all the numbers off, though I still don't see the energy requirements being that low for a ship this size. Do you know how fast the Odyssey made it from Earth to here?"

"I didn't have a watch. Hours, though, as a back-of-the-envelope estimate."

Sara mumbled under her breath, bringing up her omni-tool and tapping in a few calculations. Her eyes widened. "Wow."

"Wow?"

"Like I said, I'm thinking about what's powering this city, because it can't be fusion," Sara stated. "At first I thought it probably wasn't fusion, but after running the numbers- and of course I could be completely wrong on all of them- it _can't_ be fusion. At maximum theoretical efficiency, they'd need a reactor the size of this tower, and the rest of the city would have to be made up of metallic deuterium."

"So they've found something better," Jiahao suggested. "Maybe antimatter or something exotic like black holes?"

"It's possible," she agreed. "Honestly, this is beyond me. I'm a geologist. I just really like this kind of stuff because of my aunt's collection of old vids."

Jiahao suppressed a laugh.

"So, do they know you're armed?" Jane asked bluntly, putting down her fork.

"If they do, they aren't showing it," Jiahao answered with a smirk. The smirk disappeared when he saw her disapproving look. "Ma'am?"

"You had to protect yourself during first contact," she allowed, unable to object given her own experiences. "But we need to build trust with this people. And carrying around guns without their knowledge isn't a good way to do it."

"I told you so!" Sara hissed at Jiahao before turning back to Jane and asking, "What should we do?"

She rubbed her temples, thinking. "Give them to me. I'll deal with it."

* * *

Colonel John Sheppard idly flipped the stylus back in forth in his hand, his mind aflurry with thoughts. Waiting never really sat well with him, especially when they were in a crisis. Yet there was nothing else for him to do, and for the past hour he'd been pretending to catch up on paperwork.

It was a welcome interruption when a security guard appeared at his office door. She announced, "Sir, Commander Shepard wishes to see you."

John sighed. "You know what I've said about- nevermind. Send her in."

The guards kept their weapons down, but at the ready as they motioned the Commander in. She strode halfway to John's desk, then halted in a vaguely military pose.

He refused to be intimidated, whether that effect was intentional or not. Instead, he smiled pleasantly. "What can I do for you, Commander?"

"Please, Jane is fine," the woman suggested.

He nodded. "John, then."

"John." She smirked slightly. "I must say, you do have a nice city. I could think of much worse places to be locked up in."

"Look, we're just-"

Jane held up a hand. "Being careful, I know. Sorry. That's not what this is about." She stepped forward and sat down across from John, dropping a pair of rectangular objects on the desk.

"What are these?" he asked suspiciously, resisting the urge to pick up one of the devices. He recognized them as the devices their first visitors had with them. He'd figured they were some equivalent of tricorders, and they hadn't had a chance to scan them yet.

"Hahne-Kedar Kessler light pistols," Jane answered. "Light, compact, deadly enough against soft targets."

The entirety of the message was not lost on John. A wry smile crossed his face before he asked, "Where'd you get these?"

"Sara and Jiahao brought them," she answered honestly. "Don't pin this on them. We've had some pretty bad first contact situations."

"Yeah, so have we," he replied. "I don't like that you brought weapons into my city, especially without my knowledge. But I know why you did, and I'm glad you've decided to end it this way. Now, you don't have any more surprises, do you?"

"No, not that I know of." She paused. "Look, you have a missing survey vessel out on that pad- I know, not really true, but that's how the Alliance will see it. Sooner or later they're going to come and investigate."

John dodged, "We have a plan for that."

She burst out into laughter. "I'm sure you do."

"If there's anything else-"

"Actually, there is," Jane mentioned, a slight hesitation in her voice. "Something very important about this galaxy that isn't in the files we gave you. It's… well, people will tell you it's a conspiracy theory, but I was _there_. This is beyond important."

John tented his fingers on the table. "Okay, I'm listening."

"They're called the Reapers," she began. "An ancient race of sentient-organic starships who hibernate in dark space, coming out to cull the galaxy of all life every fifty thousand years. The Protheans didn't build the Mass Relays or the Citadel, the Reapers did, and they're the ones who wiped them out. They're the ones behind Eden Prime and they're the ones who attacked the Citadel. Turns out it's time for another harvest."

He raised an eyebrow. "I thought the geth attacked the Citadel?"

"It wasn't the geth," she corrected, shaking her head. "The geth were there, but they weren't behind it. An enemy, sure, but as far as I can tell, they're just pawns of the Reapers."

"Okay, so you're telling me everything here is lying and you know the truth," John said skeptically, tapping the datapad on his desk for emphasis. "How do you know all this?"

"Like I said, I was there," she repeated. "I was there when we made first contact at Eden Prime, I fought their pawns on the Citadel, I actually talked to a Reaper on Virmire. The reason I was made the galaxy's first human Spectre was to track down another Spectre, Saren Arterius, who was turned by the Reapers- they have one hell of a brainwashing trick." She paused and couldn't help but laugh. "I'm not really helping my case, am I?"

"Well, there's two possibilities here. Either you're making up a crazy story for one reason or another and there's no such thing as Reapers, or you're telling the truth and there's an apocalypse on the horizon," John said carefully. "Thing is, you would not believe the number of times it's turned out to be the latter."

Jane asked quietly, "So what are you going to do?"

"We're in a very precarious position right now," he admitted. "See this from my point of view. If this is true, it changes a lot. I hear an implied 'and you have to help us', and I have a really bad record when it comes to walking away from this sort of thing. But you'll understand why we don't want to send a ship out to look, especially on the advice of a guest. If it's not true, it could be a trap. And we are in a really tense situation right now."

She gritted her teeth. "I thought you were over this."

"Hey, I'm not the one who walked in and dropped two pistols on my desk." He sighed. "Look, tell you what, I'll get Rodney on it. See if we can use the long-range sensors to get a reading from here. If we can catch a glimpse, we'll talk."

"Well, believe it or not this is more than my people gave me." She stood to leave. "Thank you, Colonel."

* * *

" _My name is Hannah Shepard," the woman in the crisp Alliance dress uniform began. Her movements were stiff, her speech halting, her expression stone-faced. She was clearly on the edge of breaking down, but stubbornly refusing to do so. Forcing herself to straighten, she added, "Captain, Alliance Navy. CO PCU Orizaba, Fifth Fleet."_

" _I have stood here before, but never in this position. I had always feared, but never expected..." She paused and took a deep breath, regaining her composure somewhat. "I speak not as the superior officer informing a family that their loved one was killed in the line of duty, but as the family of one of those loved ones."_

" _I have said, before, more times than I would have liked, that nothing I can say or do will ever make up for that loss." She spoke quickly, knuckles white on the edge of the podium. "No Star of Terra, no Nova Cluster or Silver Dagger will erase that pain. Every military family knows that this is a possibility. Our jobs are dangerous on the edge. We hope, we pray, but sometimes that is not enough. And nothing can prepare us for this."_

 _Another deep breath, glancing down before looking up at the crowd again.._ _"_ _I grieve my daughter's death, but I could not be more proud of her life. Jane joined as soon as she could, graduated the academy with top marks, and racked up and exemplary service record. During the Skyllian Blitz, she saved many innocent lives on Elysium, despite being on shore leave. After the attack on Eden Prime, she fought against all odds to stop the rogue Spectre and save the Citadel. She laid down her life and ultimately lost it to protect not Earth, not the Alliance, but the galaxy._ _"_

" _She was the galaxy's hero. She was my daughter."_

Pressing a button on his terminal, Admiral Hackett ended the feed. He turned to the officer seated across from him in his office. "What do you say to that, Captain?"

"Sir, human factors is not my area of expertise," the man answered coldly.

The Admiral sighed. "The face of humanity is dead. One of our greatest heroes, perhaps _the_ greatest. Surely you have some feeling on that?"

"For many of our greatest heroes, death is what elevates their status," he allowed after a moment of consideration. "Space is very dangerous, sir. This was always a risk. A PR tour within Council space would have been safer, but the Commander never would have accepted that."

"No, she wouldn't have," Hackett agreed before changing topics. "I assume you've already read and analyzed the message from Abunda."

"Yes, sir," the Captain answered. "A missing survey shuttle and strange sensor readings shortly after an unknown impact. It's suspicious to say the least."

"Our task force will be there in a few days. What are they going to find?" the admiral asked.

He shook his head. "There's a good possibility that it will be hostile. Beyond that, I can't answer, sir."

Admiral Hackett sighed. "One way or another, we'll find out soon enough."

* * *

The krogan got exactly the reaction he expected when he stepped into the Flux nightclub. He ignored the glare of the bouncer and the suspicious look of the bartender, ambling his way to a booth near the back of the bar.

He would never admit that the reaction bothered him more than it did even just a year ago.

"Wrex. I didn't know you were here," Joker greeted as he approached. The rest of the ground crew was already here, which made just about everyone he wanted to see. "I didn't see you at the service."

"Krogan don't really do funerals," Wrex told him, taking a seat. "We raise feasts in their honour. Drink to their memory." He glanced around at the others. "Which I hope is what we'll be doing tonight."

"She would not have wanted us to grieve," Liara agreed, though her voice was strained as she said it. "She would want us to continue the fight. I believe she would have said 'kick ass for me'."

They shared a laugh at that, and Garrus handed the new arrival a glass of clear liquid. "It's ryncol, figured you'd appreciate it."

Wrex laughed a deep, rumbling laugh. "You know, for a turian, you're all right."

"Excuse me," a quiet voice interrupted. "May I join you?"

Almost in unison, they turned to face the new arrival. She was young woman in casual clothes, with light brown hair in a ponytail and light green eyes. She looked familiar, but none of them could place it.

"Amelia Shepard. My friends call me Melia," the woman introduced.

"I didn't know the Commander had a sister," Ash commented, surprised and more than slightly supicious.

"Yes, she does, and in the Alliance as well, no less," a grey-haired woman stated, stepping toward them. "The joys of having access to medical files. Captain Anderson and Engineer Adams send their regrets."

"And here I was thinking it was going to be the whole damn Citadel," Joker quipped. "Alright, sit down and grab a drink. Both of you."

Chakwas took a seat beside Wrex, on the edge of the booth. Seeing no other option, Melia grabbed a chair from a nearby table and awkwardly wedged herself in the corner between Tali and Liara.

"Right, so this is going to be a bit awkward," Joker began. "I didn't put together a wake."

"Really?" Liara said, surprised. "I thought this was the custom?"

"No, it definitely is," Garrus argued. "What are you getting at, Joker?"

"There's a chance the Commander might still be alive," he blurted out.

"What?" Wrex snapped.

"Excuse me?" Melia said, shocked.

"How much have you had?" Garrus asked.

"It's not the booze talking," Joker implored. He put down his glass and folded his hands on the table. "I don't know how much you know about the attack, but it wasn't the geth. It must have been the Reapers, because whatever it was hit without warning, saw right through our stealth, and cut through the Normandy in minutes. The thing is, just after Shepard got spaced, I saw her disappear in a flash of light."

"Are you sure you really saw that?" Chakwas said, as gently as possible. "You've been through a lot, Jeff. In times of extreme stress, our memories can become fuzzy-"

"I know what I saw!" he snapped. "Spaced, losing air, boom, gone in a flash of light. Like an old sci-fi vid."

"I don't know," Tali argued. "You are saying that they used some kind of transporters, and as far as I know that is not possible."

Half-drunk, Garrus pointed out, "You live on a spaceship."

Before they could fight, the pilot shot back, "It's the Reapers, who knows what kind of stuff they have? Look, if it is the Reapers, and they do have-"

"You must be her friends," a slurred voice interrupted. Save for one, none recognized the map stumbling his way toward the booth. Dirty dark hair surrounded the haggared face of a man who had too much alcohol and not enough sleep.

Melia was the first one to respond. "Reggie, I thought you were-"

"The fuck is wrong with you all?" he asked rhetorically, speading his arms wide and dropping a glass to the floor in the process. "Transporters this, Reapers that. What a bunch of bullshit!"

"Reggie-"

"I don't give a fuck who you arrogant pricks think you are," Reggie shouted, tossing his glass to the floor and standing. "Your idol is dead. Commander Shepard, Hero of the Citadel, space dust. The mighty fall hard. Deal with it."

Joker stood at the same time and drew his arm back. "You motherf-"

"Lieutenant, no!" Ash shouted, grabbing Joker and holding him back. "You want to break your arm on that asshole?"

It mattered little, because Garrus literally beat him to the punch. His taloned fingers left bloody streaks as he slugged him in the face. The drunk man dropped like a fly, crashing to the floor.

Garrus remarked wryly, "You know, I'm tempted to go on another wild goose chase just to prove that asshole wrong. Who was he, anyway?"

"That would be Reginald Shepard," Melia answered reluctantly. "My brother."

Joker's jaw dropped at that. "You're kidding."

* * *

A pair of guards flanked the trio of guests as they made their way up the stairs to the control room. Jane strode confidently, refusing to act the prisoner which she was pretty sure she was. Jiahao moved with his head down, glancing around, while Sara still hadn't stopped gawking at her surroundings.

John was there to greet them, along bespectacled man that they didn't recognize. Jane couldn't help herself. She immediately pointed out, "You're not Rodney."

"No, I'm Doctor Radek Zelenka," the man introduced, adjusting his glasses. "I do a lot of work fixing the city. Rodney, uh, he thinks this is not important enough so he gets me to work on it."

"It happens," John explained.

"Yes, Rodney can be... difficult, but he is the best at what he does," Zelenka said. He added quickly, "Please, do not tell him I said that, he will never live it down."

"I won't, I promise," Jane said lightly. "What do you have?"

"So, I was working on the long-range sensor array hoping to get a look at these Reapers, and, well, it's slow going," Zelenka explained. "We haven't been able to extend the range enough to find them. But take a look at this."

With a tap on his tablet, he brought up what appeared to be a star chart in front of him. A few seconds later, several graphics appeared on the screen. One of them was labeled as their current position, along with the _Daedalus_ and the _Odyssey_. Several others could be identified as ships of various types. Zelenka zoomed in on the map, focusing on a pair of ships. A dotted line showed their course tracks.

"Ooh, that's neat," Sara commented.

"Those are probably Alliance vessels on a routine patrol," Jane informed, pointing at the ships on the screen. She didn't tell them that she could tell because the course track started at an important Alliance Navy starbase.

Zelenka zoomed the map out and scrolled to another area. This time, the course tracks were shorter and more erratic. "Okay, what about these ones?"

She shook her head. "Uh, can't tell. Could be Alliance, could be something else."

"Hold on, let me bring up a closer scan," the scientist suggested. "Maybe you'll be able to identify it by appearance."

"You can get enough detail for that?" Jane asked, surprise.

"Well, usually." He tapped away on his archaic tablet, and a few seconds later a much better image appeared on the flat-panel monitor.

It still wasn't a great image- it was blurry and lacked detail, and didn't have real shading or surface markings, only some kind of false-color representation. Still, it was enough. Her blood ran cold when she realized what she was looking at. "Those are not Alliance."

The scientist evidently failed to realize the gravity of that. "Really? Then whose are they?"

It was Sara who answered, voice quiet and fearful. "Batarian slavers."

* * *

So, it's a little slow, but as you can probably guess from the ending, the next chapter is going to have some serious action.


End file.
